Alumni receive UChicago MBSAA's highest honor

Alumni receive UChicago MBSAA’s highest honor

Susan C. Alberts, SM’92, PhD’92

Walter J. Koroshetz, MD’79

Benjamin Kyle Potter, MD’01

Distinguished Alumni Awards

Susan C. Alberts, SM’92, PhD’92

Robert F. Durden Distinguished Professor, Department of Biology Chair, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology Duke University

Susan C. Alberts, SM’92, PhD’92, is an acclaimed biologist, anthropologist and primatologist whose research investigates social evolution in mammals, with a focus on the social behavior, demography, genetics and behavioral endocrinology of wild primates. She is the director of one of the longest-running studies of wild primates in the world—the Amboseli Baboon Research Project—in collaboration with Jeanne Altmann, PhD’79, Eugene Higgins Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, and others. In addition, she is a member of the executive committee of the Duke Global Health Institute, established in 2006 to address important global health issues and reduce health disparities. Until 2015, Alberts was the associate director of science and synthesis at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center. In 2019, Alberts was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, which recognizes scientists for achievements in original research and is considered to be one of the highest honors a scientist can receive.

Walter J. Koroshetz, MD’79

Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Institutes of Health

Walter J. Koroshetz, MD’79, was named director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in 2015. He joined NINDS in 2007 as deputy director and has held leadership roles in a number of major programs, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative, the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience, and the Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 Initiative. Before joining NINDS, Koroshetz served as vice chair of the neurology service and director of stroke and neurointensive care services at Massachusetts General Hospital, and professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. His early clinical research focused on Huntington’s disease, where he performed the first study of presymptomatic testing in the disease. He pioneered acute endovascular clot removal for acute stroke and these techniques are now commonplace in acute stroke care. In parallel, Koroshetz worked to improve the care of patients with acute stroke and other critical illnesses through neurointensive care.

Benjamin Kyle Potter, MD’01

Colonel, Medical Corps, U.S. Army Director of Surgery, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Benjamin Kyle Potter, MD’01, is an orthopaedic surgeon with research interests in trauma-related amputation techniques and outcomes (including osseo-integration and targeted muscle re-innervation), combat-related heterotopic ossification, and predictive modeling of musculoskeletal trauma and oncologic outcomes. He is chief orthopaedic surgeon for the Amputee Program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, as well as a musculoskeletal oncology consultant at Walter Reed and the National Institutes of Health. Potter was selected as the orthopaedic surgery consultant to the U.S. Army Surgeon General in March 2019. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 and 2016. In 2020, he deployed to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, as the senior theater orthopaedic surgeon embedded with the 411th Hospital Center. He is past president of the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons and serves on the Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee for the Amputee Coalition.

Anne L. Taylor, MD’76

Griffin Myers, MD’07, MBA’10

David H. Whitney, MBA’78, MD’80

Anne L. Taylor, MD’76

Senior Vice President for Faculty Affairs and Career Development Vice Dean for Academic Affairs John Lindenbaum Professor of Medicine Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

During her career in academic medicine, Anne L. Taylor, MD’76, has held leadership roles in institutions where she was often one of very few women, and even fewer African American physicians. She joined the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2007 as vice dean of academic affairs, and was promoted in 2014 to senior vice president for faculty affairs and career development. Her research initially focused on laboratory models of heart disease, but refocused on clinical research in patient groups underrepresented in cardiovascular clinical trials. From 2001 to 2005, Taylor chaired the steering committee for the African American Heart Failure Trial. She is a member of the steering committee for a recently completed National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute trial, “Genomic Analysis of Enhanced Response to Heart Failure Therapy in African Americans.” Other work has examined the knowledge gap in understanding the risk for cardiovascular disease in women of different racial and ethnic groups.

Griffin Myers, MD’07, MBA’10

Chief Medical Officer, Oak Street Health

Griffin Myers, MD’07, MBA’10, is a co-founder of Chicago-based Oak Street Health, a growing organization of value-based primary care centers serving adults on Medicare. He led the building of the medical group and helped to develop the innovative care model at Oak Street Health. Myers has successfully guided the company’s growth into additional markets and explored further partnerships to broaden its reach. He is a frequent speaker and publisher on behalf of the company and a rising voice in the healthcare industry. Myers is a research associate at Harvard Medical School, adjunct lecturer in the Public-Private Interface initiative at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and an adjunct instructor of emergency medicine at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, a Presidential Leadership Scholar, an Aspen Health Innovators Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Alumni Service Award

David H. Whitney, MBA’78, MD’80

Dermatologist

After completing his residency in dermatology at the University of Chicago in 1984, David H. Whitney, MBA’78, MD’80, served as an assistant clinical professor and director of the outpatient dermatology clinic. He left in 1987 to establish Medical Surgical Dermatology S.C. in the Chicago suburbs. Whitney joined the Alumni Council of the University of Chicago Medical & Biological Sciences Alumni Association in 2002, serving as president from 2004 to 2006 and chairing a variety of committees. He has served on the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine Council since 2006, including two terms as chair, ending in June 2019. He is impressed by the unique culture that pervades the campus and supports Dean Kenneth S. Polonsky, MD, in his efforts to expand and improve on the execution of the University’s mission.

About the MBSAA Alumni Awards

Since 1952, the University of Chicago Medical & Biological Sciences Alumni Association (UChicago MBSAA) has honored the contributions of alumni of the Pritzker School of Medicine and the Division of the Biological Sciences with its Alumni Awards.

The Distinguished Alumni Award, formerly known as the Distinguished Service Award, recognizes the contributions alumni have made to the fields of medicine and science. The Alumni Service Award recognizes contributions alumni have made through philanthropy and volunteer service to the University of Chicago.

Read more about the award recipients at mbsaa.uchicago.edu/2021-alumni-awards.