EMORY PHYSICIAN RECEIVES AWARD FROM AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TRANSPLANT SURGEONS

September 8, 1997

Media Contact: Kathi Ovnic, 404/727-9371 - covnic@emory.edu

Christian P. Larsen, M.D., D.Phil, co-director of the Kidney-Pancreas transplant program, Emory University School of Medicine, was awarded the Roche Presidential Travel Award by the American Society for Transplant Surgeons.

The award was established to provide two young and upcoming investigators an opportunity for travel to international and domestic laboratories. The award also may be used for professional travel to events that foster development in their specialized field. The award was presented at the 23rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons in Chicago.

Recently, Dr. Larsen and colleagues were published in Nature for their research on "Long term acceptance of skin cardiac allografts by blockade of the CD40 and CD28." This publication prompted the British Broadcasting Company to interview Dr. Larsen for a television special which aired earlier this year. Recently, Dr. Larsen and his research partner, Thomas C. Pearson, M.D., were co-recipients of the NIH Basic Science Award from the American Society of Transplant Physicians.

Dr. Larsen is a graduate of Emory where he received both his undergraduate and doctor of medicine degree. After completing a doctor of philosophy at Oxford University, Dr. Larsen returned to Emory to begin a career in transplant surgery and became assistant professor of surgery in 1991. Since that time, he has become an associate professor of surgery and currently is the co-director of the kidney-pancreas program at Emory. He serves as a reviewer and consultant on many NIH study sections, and reviewer of several journals including Nature Medicine, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Transplantation and Blood.

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