Clinical Research Achievement Awards recognize UB’s Quattrin, Lipshultz and Wolfe

For the three University at Buffalo researchers selected as recipients of 2020 Buffalo Translational Consortium Clinical Research Achievement Awards, the honor reflects many years of hard work alongside the members of their research teams. It is also a reflection of three unique studies that have made headlines far beyond Buffalo. The recipients’ research demonstrated that:

• A drug called golimumab preserves beta-cell function in children and young adults with newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes
• Children who were exposed to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in utero have subclinical yet significant differences in specific left ventricular diastolic indices
• Surgery to remove the thymus gland in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) provides significant clinical benefits for as long as five years after the procedure

The annual awards honor outstanding accomplishments in clinical research performed at a BTC institution, with investigators from UB or Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center serving as lead authors. In order to be eligible, research findings must have been published or in press in the past 12 months. One award winner and two award finalists are being recognized for 2020.

This year’s award winner, Teresa Quattrin, MD, UB Distinguished Professor, is Senior Associate Dean for Research Integration in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and CTSI Special Populations Core Director. She was selected for a study titled “Golimumab and Beta-Cell Function in Youth With New-Onset Type 1 Diabetes,” which was published in the November 19, 2020, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Quattrin told UB Communications in June that the study showed “that golimumab is a potential disease-modifying agent for newly diagnosed patients with Type 1 diabetes. The main goal of the study was to see if golimumab could preserve beta-cell function in these newly diagnosed patients.”

Recognized as an awards finalist is Steven E. Lipshultz, MD, A. Conger Goodyear Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Jacobs School. He was selected for the study titled “Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction in HIV-Uninfected Infants Exposed in Utero to Antiretroviral Therapy,” published in the March 15, 2020, issue of AIDS.

Also recognized as an awards finalist is Gil I. Wolfe, MD, FAAN, Professor and Chair, Irvin and Rosemary Smith Chair of Neurology, Department of Neurology, Jacobs School. He was selected for a study titled “Minimal Manifestation Status and Prednisone Withdrawal in the MGTX Trial,” which was published in the August 11, 2020, issue of Neurology.

The annual BTC awards competition aims to identify major advances resulting from the region’s investment in clinical research to benefit the health and welfare of the Western New York community. To be eligible for an award, the research should contribute to the understanding of human disease and physiology and demonstrate an impact on the understanding, prevention, and diagnosis or treatment of disease.

“There is a wide range of innovative clinical research being conducted throughout the Buffalo Translational Consortium,” states Awards Committee Chair Anne B. Curtis, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Charles and Mary Bauer Professor and chair, Department of Medicine, Jacobs School. “Our Clinical Research Achievement Awards are designed to highlight the most novel and impactful of these clinical research studies. The results of these research studies lead to advances in the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions that improve the health and wellbeing of patients in our community and far beyond.”

The award winner and award finalists have been invited to present their research at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute Annual Forum on March 17, 2021. They will also be invited to attend Translational Science 2021, a national conference of key thought leaders, future collaborators and funding agencies, scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., from March 30 to April 2, 2021.