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News Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jacque Montgomery, 303-724-1528, Jacque.Montgomery@uchsc.edu
University of Colorado Denver Professor/Physician Wins Highest Pediatric Honor
Dr. Richard Johnston’s leadership with folic acid has prevented birth defects
AURORA (Mar 21, 2008) – The American Pediatric Society has awarded University of Colorado Denver professor and pediatrician Richard Johnston its highest honor, the John Howland Medal, for lifetime contributions to child health and pediatrics. It is appropriate recognition for a man whose name would not be recognized by most parents but whose work may have allowed them to have a healthy baby. Chances are, babies everywhere get a better start and a better chance to stay healthy thanks to the contributions of this physician scholar.
Dr. Johnston led a coalition of pediatricians, obstetricians, and clinical geneticists that succeeded in having folic acid added to fortified grain products in the United States. This effort helps pregnant women today receive folic acid in their breads and cereals and supports their goal of having a healthy baby.
Dr. Johnston’s laboratory research in how the body fights infection also paved the way for better understanding and treatment of infectious and autoimmune diseases. His work is considered to have broad implications in our current understanding of a variety of health conditions including artherosclerosis and chronic arthritis. He has chaired seven policy-making committees for the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and the vaccine advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration and is considered one of the country’s leading experts on vaccine safety for children. His work in vaccine safety has reduced the chance of unwanted vaccine side effects so that children can get the shots they need to prevent serious and life-threatening infections.
Nominating letters praise Dr. Johnston’s mentoring and leadership skills. He is credited with bringing bench research observations to the bedside of sick children. As Medical Director of the national March of Dimes, he created research programs to explore genetic and environmental causes of preterm labor. He currently teaches and works to support research at UC Denver, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, and the Children’s Hospital.
The Howland Award is the highest award given to pediatricians who teach, do research, and see patients in a medical school. Dr. Johnston will receive the award in May at the academic societies’ annual conference in Hawaii.
Biography and Background:
Dr. Johnston received a BA (1957) and MD (1961) from Vanderbilt University. He was a resident in pediatrics at Vanderbilt and Boston Children’s Hospital and completed a three-year research fellowship in immunology at Harvard after serving our country from 1964-1966 at the US Army Hospital in Bad Cannstatt, Germany.
At 35-years old Dr. Johnston obtained his first job as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. He moved after six years to Rockefeller University, then in 1977 became Chairman of Pediatrics at National Jewish and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. He subsequently served as Chairman of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and University of Pennsylvania, then Medical Director of the March of Dimes while conducting research and serving as Chief of Pediatric Immunology at Yale. Most recently, he has been Associate Dean for Research Development at the UC Denver School of Medicine and Executive VP for Academic Affairs at National Jewish.
Dr. Johnston has served as President of the two honorific academic pediatric societies, the Society for Pediatric Research and the American Pediatric Society, and twice as Chairman of the Board of the International Pediatric Research Foundation. He has been a member of advisory committees for various NIH Institutes, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and many others. Dr. Johnston has been on the editorial board of seven journals and is currently Editor of Current Opinion in Pediatrics. He was chair of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee and received the Commissioner's Special Citation and Wiley Medal for exceptional contributions to the FDA. He obtained architectural approval and financing to develop a bridge between CHOP and Penn research buildings, an expression of his commitment to increasing research interactions. The bridge was later named in his honor by the two institutions.
Dr. Johnston has more than 270 full publications based on his research in defense against infection, genetic immunodeficiency disease, and child health. He has studied sickle cell disease, the causes of bacterial pneumonia, and the causes of tissue damage during infection or injury. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and has chaired seven IOM committees, primarily on vaccine safety.
He is kept current in medicine by his two physician sons, one in practice and one in academic medicine, his wife, a PhD medical educator, and his daughter, a practicing child psychologist.
The School of Medicine faculty work to advance science and improve care as the physicians, educators and scientists at University of Colorado Hospital, The Children’s Hospital, Denver Health, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Degrees offered by the UC Denver School of Medicine include doctor of medicine, doctor of physical therapy, and masters of physician assistant studies. The School is part of the University of Colorado Denver, one of three universities in the University of Colorado system. For additional news and information, please visit the UC Denver newsroom online.