PHILADELPHIA — P. Leslie Dutton, Ph.D. a biochemist and biophysicist at the Perelman School of Medicine , University of Pennsylvania, is among three Philadelphia scientists honored this month with the John Scott Award, one of the top prizes in the world of science and medicine.
Dutton, whose lifetime of research into the mechanism of electron transport, holds the key to fundamental explanations about the energy of all living cells. “To win this award, and to win it in Philadelphia for electron transfer is a total treat for me,” said Dutton. “My work is essentially bioelectricity – electron transfer through proteins that provide the energy by which cells exist – can trace its roots back through the centuries to Philadelphia and the work of Benjamin Franklin and his work in the discovery of electricity here in Philadelphia.”
In addition to Dr. Dutton, two physicians will share a second Scott Award for 2013: N. Scott Adzick, M.D., Surgeon-in-Chief at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, for his pioneering contributions to fetal surgery and Robert L. Brent, M.D., the former Chairman of Pediatrics at Thomas Jefferson University, whose research has led to significant advancements in understanding the genetic and environmental causes of birth defects and cancer. Dr. Dutton is the Eldridge Reeves Johnson Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He also serves as Director of the Johnson Foundation for Molecular Biophysics.
The winners, who will receive a cash prize and the copper Scott medal, will be honored at the American Philosophical Society – founded by Benjamin Franklin – at an evening ceremony on November 22nd.
The Scott Award was endowed by Scottish chemist and pharmacist John Scott as a lasting legacy to the scientific achievements of Benjamin Franklin and awarded in Philadelphia each year since 1822 to “ingenious men and women who make useful inventions” to benefit society as a whole. Past recipients include 15 winners of the Nobel Prize, among them Marie Curie, Guglielmo Marconi, R. Buckminster Fuller, Baruch Blumberg, Kary Mullis, K. Barry Sharpless and most recently physicist Saul Perlmutter, who won the Scott Award in 2005 and went on to win the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2011.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.