The Wylie Scholar Award in Academic Vascular Surgery was established by the Foundation for Accelerated Vascular Research in 1996. It was named in memory of Dr. Edwin Jack Wylie, a pioneering and visionary vascular surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. Dr. Wylie recognized that operations to treat vascular diseases were limited, and that increased efforts in basic research would expand our understanding of the fundamental aspects of vascular diseases. These efforts would lead to safer, more effective surgical techniques, less invasive procedures, better treatments, and ultimately to the prevention of, even cures for, these life-threatening diseases.
FAVR’s annual Wylie Scholar award consists of a 3-year, $150,000 grant given to the most promising vascular surgeon scientists in North America who are dedicated to an academic career involving original, innovative basic laboratory investigation. The Foundation envisions that this award will enable the recipient to devote a significant amount of his or her total effort towards fundamental vascular research over a sustained period, thereby helping the recipient to qualify for independent funding from national health agencies.
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To date, 12 outstanding individuals have been selected as Wylie Scholars. With distinguished academic accomplishments and top quality production from their investigations that have far exceeded FAVR's expectations, the Wylie Scholar Award winners are:
| Year | Wylie Scholar | Institution | Research includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Ulka Sachdev , MD | University of Pittsburgh | researching the mechanisms that promote blood vessel growth in order to develop new treatments for patients with peripheral artery disease |
| 2007 | Matthew Eagleton , MD | Cleveland Clinic | investigating the processes that lead to aortic aneurysm formation |
| 2006 | Eric T. Choi, MD | Washington University | studying vein and artery complications in patients undergoing blood dialysis due to renal (kidney) failure |
| 2005 | Rajabrata Sarkar, MD, PhD | University of California, San Francisco | working to understand how blood clots cause scarring in veins and to develop new treatments to prevent it; also unraveling the genetic mechanism that helps in the growth of new arteries |
| 2004 | Michael T. Watkins, MD | Harvard University and University of Massachusetts Medical Center | focusing on the effect of an experimental drug to prevent inflammation and possible spinal cord injury following surgical repair of aortic aneurysms in the thorax |
| 2003 | Paul DiMuzio, MD | Thomas Jefferson University | investigating how to help patients with limb- and life-threatening vascular problems who do not have enough of their own tissues necessary for successful surgery |
| 2002 | Alan Dardik, MD, PhD | Yale University | researching more effective and durable angioplasty, coronary and peripheral bypass grafts and dialysis access |
| 2001 | Edith Tzeng, MD | University of Pittsburgh | focusing on how nitric oxide delivered to injured blood vessels using a gene transfer approach can improve therapies for vascular disease |
| 2000 | :: No award given :: | ||
| 1999 | Richard Powell, MD | Dartmouth Medical Center | investigating how smooth muscle cells contribute to atherosclerosis |
| 1998 | Barry Rubin, MD, PhD | Toronto General Research Institute | developing a drug to replace Cox-2 inhibitor inhibitors, like Vioxx and Celebrex; developing new therapies that could decrease muscle damage, improve leg function and decrease the amputation rate associated with circulation problems in the legs. |
| 1997 | Larry Kraiss, MD | University of Utah | raising the possibility that new drugs targeted at newly discovered cell control points may be useful in treating vascular diseases |
| 1996 | Robert Thompson, MD | Washington University | developing a drug for patients with abdominal aneurysms |