Presentation of the Julius M. Friedenwald Medal to M. Bishr Omary
2024; Elsevier BV; Volume: 166; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1053/j.gastro.2024.03.033
ISSN1528-0012
Autores Tópico(s)Medical Imaging Techniques and Applications
ResumoWe had the privilege to nominate and now celebrate M. Bishr Omary as the 2024 recipient of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Julius M. Friedenwald Medal, named after AGA's 8th president. Bishr's nomination was seconded by 11 co-signatories who are luminaries in our digestive health field as one measure of his standing in, and contributions to, our specialty. This recognition highlights his impactful and inspirational contributions to the AGA, and to our field on so many levels, including his track record in academic and research accomplishments; leadership; mentorship; championing of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; and efforts in planetary digestive health and sustainability. The Friedenwald Medal is AGA's highest honor awarded to an AGA member and has been given annually since 1941. Its first recipient was Walter B. Cannon, a renowned physician-scientist and past chair of the Department of Physiology (as was Bishr) at Harvard University (1906–1942), who also served as AGA's 9th president during 1910–1912. This prestigious medal "honors an individual who has contributed significantly to AGA and has made lifelong contributions to the field of gastroenterology."1American Gastroenterological AssociationJulius Friedenwald Medal.https://gastro.org/membership/recognition-awards/julius-friedenwald-medal/Date accessed: March 23, 2024Google Scholar In 2020, Gastroenterology published a detailed biography of Bishr covering his childhood; family life; graduate education and training; his academic paths at Stanford University, University of Michigan, and currently Rutgers University; and his service to the AGA.2Greenberg H.B. Owyang C. Williams J.A. et al.Our new president-M. Bishr Omary, MD, PhD, AGAF.Gastroenterology. 2020; 158: 1811-1821Google Scholar As part of AGA's annual tribute to the Friedenwald Medal recipients, we cover a few highlights about Bishr and why he is so incredibly deserving of this recognition. Bishr was born in New York City while his father was attending graduate school at Columbia University on a Syrian government scholarship. His parents, Ibrahim and Dalal, and Bishr moved back to Damascus, Syria when Bishr was 5 years old. His younger sister Nashwa Ulsaker and brother Reed were born in Damascus (Photo 1A). His parents emigrated to the United States in 1968 to seek better educational opportunities for their kids. Bishr's brother Reed also became an academic physician at Vanderbilt University, and his sister worked as a commercial property manager and now enjoys, with her husband Ken Ulsaker, being grandparents to 6 lovely grandchildren. Bishr met his wife Souha Hakim, an exceptional pediatrician, in 2010 and they married in 2012. In addition to running a busy practice, she regularly participates in a medical mission that provides care to an underserved region in Guatemala. Souha and Bishr are now "empty nesters," as their children Jill and Joe are both currently attending graduate school (Photo 1B). Bishr's interest in science started in 7th grade, after he obtained a high school chemistry textbook from his neighbor. At the age of 12, he set up a "lab" in a small storage room on the roof of the building he lived in, and miraculously never got himself or anyone else hurt. Although he had taken English as a second language in Syria, Bishr had limited English skills when he came back to the United States. It was his knowledge of chemistry that made him stand out. Bishr attended George Mason College (now George Mason University) as a chemistry major and played college soccer and volleyball. His love of soccer almost derailed his scientific career, but chemistry saved him, as he enrolled in the University of California San Diego PhD program in chemistry. Soccer led Bishr to the late Ian Trowbridge, a teammate on a San Diego City soccer team who became his PhD mentor at the Salk Institute, studying cell and cancer biology. The most impactful discovery made by Bishr while in the Trowbridge laboratory was the identification and characterization of the transferrin receptor. This work was possible through studying leukemia samples from patients, sparking Bishr's interest in medicine and enrollment into the 2-year PhD-to-MD program at the University of Miami Medical School. After a short-track internal medicine residency training at the University of California Irvine, Bishr joined the gastroenterology fellowship program at University of California San Diego (1987–1989) under the tutelage of the late Jon Isenberg (former AGA President) and the late Martin Kagnoff. Bishr credits Drs Isenberg and Kagnoff with being tremendous supporters of his training and academic career development. Before starting his first independent academic position at Stanford University, Bishr was fortunate to spend 3 months at Royal Liverpool University Hospital in Liverpool, England, as a visiting senior registrar performing endoscopy and other clinical work while being mentored by the director of the Liverpool gastroenterology unit at the time, Dr. Ian Gilmore, with whom he still communicates (now Sir Ian Gilmore). Bishr joined Stanford University as an assistant professor in 1989. He credits Harry Greenberg with giving him his first real job (and continued guidance), although Harry was the fortunate one because Bishr brought with him a Veterans Affairs (VA) Merit Award, a VA Career Development Award, and a Pew Scholar Award. Bishr rose through the academic ranks and served as Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, as Director of its National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Gastroenterology (GI) Training grant, and as the Co-Director and then Director of its NIH-funded Digestive Disease Center. One of Bishr's most important attributes during his time at Stanford was his selfless focus on helping develop and enhance the careers of the GI division trainees and faculty. After 19 years at Stanford, Bishr moved to the University of Michigan (UM) in 2008 to succeed John Williams as Chair of the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology. Bishr grew the department by recruiting a cadre of early career and established tenure-track faculty and fostered collaborations with other departments and centers. Within 9 years, he grew the department to become the top NIH-funded physiology department in the United States and the top-funded basic science department in the medical school. In addition to research, education and training have always been a key focus for Bishr. He established a physiology MS degree-granting program and helped establish 2 NIH-funded summer research programs for undergraduate students, 1 focusing on enhancing the diversity of the research workforce. Bishr managed to do all this while overseeing a successful NIH- and VA-funded research laboratory. His other major legacy was establishing 7 (and initiating 2) endowed chairs in the physiology department (which did not have any previously), a rarity for any basic science department that does not serve grateful patients. In his philanthropy fundraising efforts, which included establishing scholarships for students, a PhD training endowment, and student summer research fellowship, he led by example with gifts from him and his wife Souha. Souha and Bishr used their home for student recruiting dinners and hosting the popular "Night at the Academy," when renowned UM faculty spoke on issues of general interest. In 2017, Bishr was appointed as Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice Dean for Research in the UM Medical School. In this role, Bishr was responsible for overseeing and supporting medical school research efforts and investments. In September 2019, Bishr began a new (and his current) position at Rutgers University as senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and research for the Rutgers University health-related campus, referred to as Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (or Rutgers Health). This campus includes the 2 medical schools (New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, which recently joined as the Rutgers School of Medicine) and the schools of dentistry, graduate studies, health professions, nursing, pharmacy, and public health. His administrative role at Rutgers includes helping oversee faculty appointments and promotions, student affairs, and research for Rutgers Health. This included helping provide support for the recruitment of more than 100 tenure-track faculty; providing infrastructure support and guidance for the research enterprise, including the support of clinical, translational, and fundamental research; helping guide the research operations and support during the COVID-19 pandemic3Omary M.B. Eswaraka J. Kimball S.D. et al.The COVID-19 pandemic and research shutdown: staying safe and productive.J Clin Invest. 2020; 130: 2745-2748Google Scholar,4Omary M.B. Hassan M. Here's how we restore productivity and vigor to the biomedical research workforce in the midst of COVID-19?.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020; 117: 19612-19614Google Scholar; playing an important role in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts during the pandemic5Lamba S. Omary M.B. Strom B.L. Diversity, equity, inclusion strategies during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.J Health Organ Manag. 2022; 36: 256-264Google Scholar; and playing a key role in the Rutgers Health 2022–2027 strategic plan.6Rutgers HealthOne RBHS: The Way Forward. Strategic Plan 2022–2027.https://rutgershealth.org/strategic-plan#:∼:text=With%20the%20new%202022%2D2027,parts%E2%80%94and%20to%20set%20aDate accessed: March 23, 2024Google Scholar Bishr has been a loyal AGA member for 30 years. He has served on 9 AGA committees or panels, including the Research Committee (1999–2002), Committee on Manpower and Training (2003–2004), Education and Training Committee (2003–2006), Nominating Committee (2004–2005), Associate Editor then Senior Associate Editor of Gastroenterology (2006–2007 then 2008–2011, respectively), Research Awards Panel (2007–2009), Research Policy Committee as chair-elect then chair of the Research Awards Panel (2009–2013) (Photo 2A), Publications Committee (2011–2016), and more recently an AGA representative on the Multi-Society Task Force on Climate Change (2022–2023). Bishr's decades of service and leadership skills culminated in 3 crucial AGA leadership roles that we will highlight. First, as editor of Gastroenterology (2011–2016) (Photo 2B), Bishr shepherded the journal to new heights as the top GI research or GI reviews journal with the highest impact factor. He did this while collaborating and taking a lead role with the editors of other GI journals, as exemplified by co-publishing with the editors of Gut, Hepatology, and Journal of Hepatology (which was unheard of at the time) to highlight joint first authors of articles in the references section, and standardizing animal research data presentation in publications. Some special sections he initiated in Gastroenterology (eg, Mentoring and Education Corner; inaugural editor, John Del Valle) have continued, and he played an important role in lobbying for the new AGA journal Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology to allow Gastroenterology to partner with a basic science journal in addition to Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Second, is Bishr's role in helping the AGA secure NIH grants to support its education, diversity, and training missions. He helped bring together distinguished colleagues to successfully secure AGA's first NIH R25 grant (2012–2017: Investing in the Future to Promote Diversity in GI Training; Multiple Principal Investigators (MPIs): Drs Abreu, Boland, Omary, and Yang) that permitted the AGA to develop and support a summer research program for underrepresented minority (URM) college students to be involved in GI-focused research. This R25 provided a foundation to subsequently secure additional NIH R25 funding to establish and support the AGA FORWARD (Fostering Opportunities Resulting in Workforce and Research Diversity; 2018–2023) program (Contact MPI: Dr Cryer; with MPIs: Dr Crowe then Dr Omary) (Photo 2C) that was successfully renewed (2023–2028) by Drs Byron Cryer and Sandra Quezada. In addition, Bishr worked closely with Byron to secure 2 NIH R25 supplements. The third major AGA leadership role was his service as AGA's 115th president (2020–2021), which was during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.7Omary M.B. AGA 2020 year in review.Gastroenterology. 2021; 160: 982-984Google Scholar It was Bishr's calm and confidence-building demeanor; leading by example and consensus, while overseeing virtual meetings (Photo 3); and engaging with the multitude of efforts undertaken by AGA staff and members that maintained and grew AGA's activities during an unprecedented trying period. Aside from the usual activities, Bishr worked closely with past president Hashem El-Serag, the Guidelines Committee (led by Shahnaz Sultan), and the AGA Governing Board to provide high-quality and time-critical clinical guidance related to management of patients with GI manifestations of COVID-19 and recommendations for GI procedures. His presidency saw the only virtual Digestive Disease Week ever held (May 2021), a monumental effort in those early days and for a meeting of that size. His presidency year also came during the national awakening to the largely ignored racial injustices that have taken place for centuries. Among Bishr's significant transformative contributions as AGA president is the driving force role he played, together with Byron Cryer, Sandra Quezada, and the Governing Board for AGA, to undertake the Equity Project, addressing the 6 domains of justice, equity, and education; research and funding; workforce and leadership; recognition; bias; and engaging the next generation.8Carr R.M. Quezada S. Gangarosa L.M. et al.From intention to action: operationalizing AGA diversity policy to combat racism and health disparities in gastroenterology.Gastroenterology. 2020; 159: 1637-1647Google Scholar,9Quezada S.M. Carethers J.M. Abreu M. et al.The AGA Equity Project: where we are, and where we go from here.Gastroenterology. 2022; 163: 1477-1481Google Scholar In addition, Bishr was instrumental, working together with the AGA Foundation, in securing philanthropy resources to support the AGA and Equity Project–related initiatives. This includes championing the first-ever "AGA Giving Day" focused on health disparities, with more than 180 donors contributing nearly $400,000 to support health disparities pilot research awards and other related efforts, coupled with AGA support of health disparities research by allocating 2 designated Research Scholar Awards (during 2021 and 2022). Bishr acknowledged his gratitude to friends from his Stanford days, Aijaz Ahmed and Harvey Young, for their generous contributions that supported 2 complementary summer and school-year student research training opportunities in GI.10American Gastroenterological AssociationUndergraduate Awards.https://gastro.org/research-and-awards/apply-for-awards/undergraduate/Date accessed: March 17, 2024Google Scholar Indeed, Bishr's AGA presidency year was memorable in terms of the collaboration with the other major GI societies; advocacy efforts; and outreach to AGA members, be it domestic or international, trainees, early career, or established, academic or community practice, clinical and/or research focused, and the broad spectrum of digestive health providers. Bishr emphasized to us that this would not be possible without the tremendous dedication and support provided by the AGA staff and committees. Bishr's selfless and tremendous track record in mentorship has led to a multitude of honors. These include the AGA Liver and Biliary Section Mentor Award (2014), AGA Distinguished Mentor Award (2015), the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Translational Research Distinguished Mentor Award (2014), and a Teaching Award from the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Stanford University (2005). Bishr is an exceptional and amazing mentor and sponsor not only to students, postdoctoral clinical and nonclinical fellows, faculty, and staff who directly work with him, but to everyone around him. His mentorship also includes securing or helping secure significant federal funding to support these efforts (eg, institutional NIH T32/K12/R25 grants; individual NIH F/K and Foundation awards) at the institutions (including AGA) he has been part of. Bishr has several published pearls related to mentoring11Omary M.B. Mentoring: a necessary but not sufficient ingredient for enhancing success.Gastroenterology. 2016; 150: 1067-1070Google Scholar and NIH-supported career development12Conte M.L. Schnell S. Ettinger A.S. et al.Trends in NIH-supported career development funding: implications for institutions, trainees, and the future research workforce.JCI Insight. 2020; 5e142817Google Scholar that deserve reading. While at Michigan, Bishr established the first postdoctoral club of any department in the medical school with a funded faculty director who met annually with all of the postdoctoral fellows and oversaw a wide range of career development opportunities. This effort became a model across the medical school.13Omary M.B. Shah Y.M. Schnell S. et al.Enhancing career development of postdoctoral trainees: Act locally and beyond.J Physiol. 2019; 597: 2317-2322Google Scholar His legacy at the UM was recognized in 2019 by establishing the "Bishr Omary Physiology Postdoctoral Awards & Symposium Fund" endowment via funds from his department and its faculty, and contributions from Bishr and several medical school departments and internal medicine divisions with whom he worked. At Rutgers Health, he established an inaugural position of Assistant Vice Chancellor for Postdoctoral Affairs to support career development, recruitment, and training of postdoctoral fellows. He also initiated what has become a greatly appreciated Chancellor Awards program, accompanied by a ceremony to recognize faculty and staff accomplishments at the institutional, community, and national levels. Bishr has also been an ardent champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Within the AGA, he was recognized last year with the 2023 Distinguished Service Award in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for his contributions that included his work with the AGA Equity Project and other efforts during his AGA presidency. While at Michigan, he collaborated with Juanita Merchant on a highly cited analysis that illuminated the limited percentage of URMs in medicine faculty and highlighted the major issues to address, including increasing the career pathways of predoctoral URMs, promoting retention and success of early career URM faculty and trainees, and increasing the support of established URM and non-URM faculty to serve as mentors for URM trainees.14Merchant J.L. Omary M.B. Underrepresentation of underrepresented minorities in academic medicine: the need to enhance the pipeline and the pipe.Gastroenterology. 2010; 138: 19-26Google Scholar One example of his successful training efforts at UM was his ability to secure (as the Contact MPI) an NIH K12 (Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award) to support training of diverse postdoctoral fellows with research experience at UM and mentored teaching experience at 2 Detroit community colleges that enroll 45% and 80% racial and ethnic minority students. At Rutgers, he continues to effectively support the recruitment and career development of a diverse community of faculty and learners. In terms of planetary GI health and sustainability, Bishr represented the AGA (together with Nitin Ahuja) as 1 of the 8-member multisociety (American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American College of Gastroenterology, AGA, and American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy) climate change task force. This led to release of a multisociety Strategic Plan on Environmental Sustainability that Bishr co-led with Heiko Pohl, which was co-published in the 4 major US GI journals in 2022 and endorsed by 23 domestic and international GI-focused societies.15Pohl H. De Latour R. Reuben A. et al.GI multi-society strategic plan on environmental sustainability.Gastroenterology. 2022; 163: 1695-1701Google Scholar Similarly, he was nominated in 2021 to represent the AGA in the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) climate change working group that included GI societies from 18 countries. His efforts with WGO colleagues helped drive several initiatives, including developing an open-access 9-session WGO webinar course on climate change (held March–June 2023) and overseeing with Desmond Leddin and a co-organizer steering committee a commentary series that encapsulated the webinar course.16Omary M.B. Leddin D. Metz G. et al.World Gastroenterology Organisation - Gut commentary series on digestive health and climate change.Gut. 2023; 72: 2193-2196Google Scholar Bishr's research accomplishments and leadership also stand out. He is among the very few physician scientists who led a GI division (Stanford University) and a basic science physiology department (UM), then became Executive Vice Dean for Research at Michigan, and is now serving as Senior Vice Chancellor at Rutgers Health, where he oversees research and academic affairs for the Rutgers University health schools. His research contributions have been recognized by selection as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (in Medical Sciences; for defining the function, regulation, and disease association of keratins in the liver); as recipient of the Jacobaeus International Prize for his work on the intermediate filament cytoskeleton; and as recipient of the Horace W. Davenport Distinguished Lectureship award (the top honor given by the Gastrointestinal & Liver Section of the American Physiological Society), aside from being selected as a member of the Association of American Physicians and American Society for Clinical Investigation and receiving the UM Department of Internal Medicine 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been funded by NIH (and remains actively funded) for 31 years and was a VA-funded investigator for 27 years. His research continues to appear in top journals and his impactful research spanning molecules to patients has led to fundamental discoveries that have helped us better understand genetic, histologic, and serologic markers of acute and chronic liver diseases, including diseases related to intermediate filament cytoskeletal proteins and porphyrias. In closing, aside from his immediate family, and friends whom he treats like family, Bishr's extended family includes the laboratory members with whom he has worked, mentored, and supported over the years (Photo 4). His base of friends is huge, and there is no doubt that it includes his tennis buddies (Photo 5), although they are no fans of his when they play tennis on the other side of the court. He considers himself a tennis hacker; somehow, his tennis buddies seem to shake hands and smile afterwards, as if nothing happened during the match!Photo 5Bishr with his three soccer friends (from their George Mason University days) and their wives attending a home Michigan-Nebraska football game at the 'Big House' during November 2022 (A). Also shown are Bishr's friends at Stanford (B) and Michigan (C) after some no-mercy tennis matches at the respective university courts. Note the masks (C) that were required for indoor play as the COVID-19 pandemic started to improve.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT) Our strong advocacy for Bishr Omary's selection as recipient of the 2024 Julius M. Friedenwald Medal is based on his tremendous contributions to AGA and our specialty spanning nearly 35 years, as an incredible selfless servant-leader, champion, and ambassador of our field. Aside from the genuine and caring person he is, what also makes Bishr really stand out is not only the longevity of his contributions but also their impact; how he goes about getting things done, including making everyone around him feel special, engaged, and doing something worthy; being detail-oriented and data-driven with a can-do and thoughtful approach; and his team principle that always gives credit to others. Therefore, we are honored to present M. Bishr Omary, the 2024 recipient of the AGA Julius M. Friedenwald Medal. The authors are grateful to Drs Eugene Chang, Byron Cryer, Nick Davidson, Hashem El-Serag, Fred Gorelick, Aida Habtezion, Gail Hecht, Loren Laine, Juanita Merchant, Rick Peek, and Anil Rustgi for their strong support of our nomination of Bishr Omary. The authors also thank Bishr for the information he provided to us and the AGA Awards Committee and AGA Governing Board for selecting Bishr as recipient of the 2024 Julius M. Friedenwald Medal.
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