LOS ANGELES — Lance Becker, MD, a professor of Emergency Medicine and director of the Center for Resuscitation Science at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will receive the American Heart Association’s 2012 Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cardiac Resuscitation Science during the organization’s annual Scientific Sessions.
Dr. Becker is board certified in internal medicine, emergency medicine and critical care medicine, and during his career has played key roles in the dissemination of automated external defibrillators into the public arena, expanding the science of CPR quality, and developing a resuscitation training program. His research interests extend across the basic science laboratory from animal models of resuscitation into human therapies such as novel methods of therapeutic hypothermia induction and the use of cardiac bypass following cardiac arrest. His cellular studies have helped define cellular reperfusion injury mechanisms, mitochondrial oxidant generation, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species responses to ischemia, apoptotic activation following ischemia, signaling pathways and new cellular cytoprotective strategies.
He has held numerous leadership posts within the American Heart Association, and he helped create the organization’s Resuscitation Science Symposium, the leading international venue for the presentation of cutting-edge science in resuscitation. Dr. Becker has worked closely with the NIH as a reviewer and grantee, and as a leader for National Heart Lung and Blood Institute initiatives supporting research funding in resuscitation research. He also served as a member of the Food and Drug Administration Device Evaluation panels and has appeared before the FDA panels as an expert presenter. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
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