Dean Grossman's Tribute to Ann Marie Schmidt

A key area of focus for Ann Marie Schmidt, our Master Scientist, is diabetes and metabolism. So it’s a bit uncanny that she seems to exist in a metabolic state all her own.

One colleague estimates her average email response time at .46 seconds—whether it’s 9 pm, or 3:30 in the morning . . . and whether she’s here in New York or in Dubai, where she directs the Diabetes Research Center at NYU’s campus there.

Ann Marie gets to work at 7 am sharp—I’m told you can set your watch by her!—starting a day so focused that she often doesn’t realize it’s become dark out and she needs to turn on a light!

Another trademark is bravery, as when she made what was then an unusual switch mid-stream, from a clinical career to the lab bench. This was after being chief resident and then a fellow in hematology and oncology. Her clinical training was all here at NYU, by the way.

Ann Marie’s conviction that she could make a greater contribution through basic research than through hands-on care has, of course, borne itself out many times over. RAGE—receptor for advanced glycation end products, which she identified—is involved in virtually all the body’s inflammatory responses.

She is now testing the effectiveness of therapies that would block its action, with the goal of preventing complications from diabetes, and they also hold promise for heart disease and obesity. With no current treatments that address diabetes’ potentially devastating, even fatal effects, the molecules she has identified represent a strong ray of hope.

In an era when the work of many labs is hyper-specific, she has boldly followed her discovery wherever it’s led—into the realms of basic cellular biology… biochemistry… structural biology and biophysics … and translating findings from mice into humans.

The science she oversees includes processes in the liver, heart, lungs, brain, spinal cord, skin, and muscles, and encompasses diseases as diverse as atherosclerosis, cancer, aging, Alzheimer’s, and ALS. It is thanks largely to her efforts in building scientific bridges, fostering collaboration, and orchestrating major grant proposals that NYU Langone was named one of just four sites nationally in the American Heart Association’s Obesity Research Network.

The deep significance of her findings has been recognized with major international awards, most notably the David Rumbough Award for Excellence in Research, from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and the Schunk Prize for Medicine.

Now, people with her intensity of concentration are sometimes oblivious to those around them. Ann Marie, on the other hand, might not notice the cookie a colleague has left on her desk, but she’s never too engrossed to help others. (Hours later, I’m told, she will notice the cookie, and eat it, but not before she says “thank you” to the giver.)

Whether a request involves assistance with a paper or serving on a committee, the word “no” is seemingly not in her professional vocabulary. Take as just one example her chairmanship—ever since Superstorm Sandy—of our Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee—a role as crucial as it is unglamorous.

She lavishes both her time and her breadth of knowledge on her students and trainees, who also report a refreshing absence in her lab of the hierarchy that is still prevalent in much of academia.

On a personal level, her big-heartedness kicks in without even being asked. She is a fierce advocate for those around her. She has helped team members find housing . . . day care . . . even medical attention, as well as providing steadfast support for colleagues and staff through life’s inevitable challenges.

For all her passion for harnessing research to alleviate human suffering, she always has time for the people right in front of her. Her first question in any difficult situation is always “What can I do?”

Ann Marie, for your ability to embrace scientific challenges and the needs of those around you with the same great generosity of spirit, I’m delighted to honor you as this year’s Master Scientist.

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Dean Grossman's Tribute to David Stern

When David Stern is really excited about a project, you can tell from the smile that spreads across his face. It’s a fortuitous sign. It means that he’s found a “wow” idea. And when David gets behind something, not only will he make it happen, it will change something radically for the better.

David made an immediate impact after he was recruited here four years ago, as vice chair for education in the Department of Medicine, and chief of medicine at the VA. For starters, he launched an innovative faculty development program within the Department of Medicine known as Education for Educators.

He then leveraged his expertise to co-found the School of Medicine’s Masters in Health Professions Education—a partnership with the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, the world leader in this still-emerging field.

Launching a new degree program requires both lofty vision and logistical savvy. Luckily, David is endowed with plenty of both.

He developed a business plan, and marshalled the resources and philanthropy to make the program a reality. Forty physicians, the majority of whom grace our faculty, have matriculated to date, gaining invaluable insight into how to train future doctors in the best way possible.

David himself holds a PhD in education, from an institution you may have heard of—Stanford. He delights in immersing himself in big ideas. He is considered one of the foremost experts on how physicians in training develop “professionalism,” a word that is sometimes referred to as a “god-term”—meaning that it's invoked with reverence without anyone necessarily agreeing on what it really means!

David’s work transformed the conversation, defining the concept, and then pinpointing when and how physicians learn to navigate complex interactions with both patients and colleagues, to become truly great doctors.

By taking ideas that most are content to relegate to the realm of the intangible, and making them things we can measure, and then improve on, he is changing the practice of how we deliver medical education.

David could easily have stayed on a scholarly career track. But instead he chose to be on the front lines. He still sees patients at the VA, where he instituted a hospitalist program and is a preceptor for residents—who adore him. Despite the intellect and rigor behind everything he does, he has a remarkably light touch—in the classroom . . . as a one-on-one mentor . . . and as a colleague and collaborator.

He will gently toss out an idea for others to pick up and run with. In case conferences, the residents do most of the talking, as he deftly helps them further their own thinking. It’s been said that he sometimes provides mentoring without the recipient even realizing they’re being mentored!

David brings this same sleight of hand to effecting change on an institutional level. It’s not easy to alter entrenched processes, and it’s even harder to do so without ruffling feathers. He does both with aplomb.

As a result, he’s had a hand—often as a key architect—in just about every innovation in our educational mission since his arrival here. This includes the re-envisioning of our graduate medical education, including the “Four-Plus-Two” program, which has residents rotate through our ambulatory sites—which is where the majority of them will actually be caring for patients!

When we merged with NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, we were strongly considering phasing out its residency program. David re-invented it as a community medicine track, giving trainees a valuable educational setting.

Getting these programs off the ground required both a creative leap and practical ingenuity. David is a master of the spreadsheet and something of a savant when it comes to data. He brings not just big ideas but also pragmatic, get-the-job-done know-how, and is able to take in opposing viewpoints and rally people to the cause.

He also finds time to be a devoted father. His passion for education doesn’t stop when he heads home, where he applies his acumen to teaching his four teenage children how to drive.

David, for your luminous, transformative leadership, I’m thrilled to honor you as our Master Educator.