Ablin Lecturers
2012: Robert W. Schrier, MD
Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Lecture: Illnesses in the US Presidents: Potential Impact on History
Dr. Robert Schrier, Professor of Medicine, was formerly Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine for 26 years and Head of the Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension for 20 years. in 1989 he was elected a member of the institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He has been President of the Association of American Physicians, American Society of Nephrology, National Kidney Foundation, and international Society of Nephrology. Dr. Schrier is a Master of the American College of Physicians and Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He has authored over 1000 scientific papers and edited numerous books including editions in internal medicine, geriatrics, drug usage, and kidney disease. His research contributions center on autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, pathogenesis of acute renal cell injury, hypertension and diabetic nephropathy, and renal and hormonal control of body fluid volume in cirrhosis, cardiac failure, nephrotic syndrome, and pregnancy. Dr. Schrier’s research has been funded by the National institutes of Health for over 40 years.
During Dr. Schrier’s 26 years as Chairman of Medicine at the University of Colorado the full-time faculty increased from approximately 75 to 500. The annual research grants by the Department’s full-time faculty rose from approximately $3 to $100 million, including the faculties’ contributions to the General Clinical Research and Cancer Centers. The house staff and fellow training programs also became nationally prominent. Thirty endowed research chairs between $1.5-2.0 million each were established. For these contributions, Governor Owens and Mayor Wellington Webb announced an Honorary Proclamation designating May 4, 2002 Robert W. Schrier Day in Colorado. in 2002, Dr. Schrier also received the prestigious Belle Bonfils-Stanton Award for Contributions in Science and Medicine.
Dr. Schrier has received honorary degrees from DePauw University, the University of Colorado, the University of Silesia, the University of Toledo, and the National Academy of Medicine of Belarus. He has received the highest awards of the American College of Physicians (John Phillips Award), the National Kidney Foundation (David Hume Award), the American Society of Nephrology (John Peters Award), the international Society of Nephrology (Jean Hamburger Award), the German Society of Nephrology (Franz Vollhard Award), the Western Society of Clinical investigation (Mayo Soley Award), the Association of Professors of Medicine (Robert H. Williams Award), the American Kidney Fund (National Torchbearer Award), the Association of American Physicians (Francis Blake Award), Acute Renal Failure Commission (Bywaters Award), the New York Academy of Medicine (The Edward N. Gibbs Memorial Award), the University of Strasburg (Louis Pasteur Medal), the American Association of Kidney Patients(Medal of Excellence), the Grand Hamdan international Award for Medical Sciences, and the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for his contributions in biomedical research, education, and clinical medicine.
