The Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease
This prestigious award recognizes exemplary scientific research achievements that provide major insights into the biological mechanisms relating tobacco smoking and human disease. It has been given annually since 1986 by Ochsner Health. Recipients receive a $15,000 honorarium, an award medallion, and a plaque describing their key research findings.
The award is named in honor of Dr. Alton Ochsner, co-founder of the Ochsner Clinic (now known as Ochsner Health) based in New Orleans, LA. In 1939, Dr. Ochsner published the first evidence indicating that tobacco smoking was the major cause of lung cancer. These seminal research findings led to a succession of scientific studies in the United States and worldwide resulting in the identification of the underlying causes associated with diseases related to smoking.
More information is available by emailing AOSRA@ochsner.org.
2021 Award Recipients
Peter G. Shields, MD
Deputy Director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center,
Thoracic Oncologist with The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio
Dr. Shields’ research identifies phenotypes and gene-environment interactions related to cancer risk, specifically breast cancer and lung cancer. This work explores smoking-related biomarkers of exposure and harm. Dr. Shields is currently leading a clinical study of the effects of electronic cigarette use in smokers.
K. Michael Cummings, PhD, MPH
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Co-Leader of the Tobacco Control Research Program, Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina
Dr. Cummings’ work identifies practical ways to deliver smoking cessation treatments to smokers and evaluates the impact of local, state, national and international policies intended to reduce smoking. Notably, Dr. Cummings pioneered the use of telephone contact to promote smoking cessation and led the effort to unearth harmful industrial practices that induced cigarette smoking.
2011-2020
2020 - Paul J. Kenny, PhD
2019 - Paul M. Cinciripini, PhD
2019 - Edwin K. Silverman, MD, PhD
2018 - Geoffrey T. Fong, PhD
2018 - Eric A. Hoffman, PhD
2017 - Augustine M.K. Choi, MD
2016 - Michael C. Fiore, MD
2016 - Ramaswamy Govindan, MD
2015 - Sir Richard Peto, FRS
2014 - Laura J. Beirut, MD
2014 - Charles H. Hennekens, MD
2013 - Avrum Spira, MD
2012 - Jennifer R. Grandis, MD
2011 - Shabih Hasan, MD
2001-2010
2010 - Jerome S. Brody, MD
2010 - Kenneth E. Warner, PhD
2009 - Steven A. Belinsky, PhD
2008 - Terry Fontham, MPH, DrPH
2008 - Jonathan M. Samet, MD
2007 - Caryn Lerman, PhD
2007 - Rachel Tyndale, PhD
2006 - Ronald G. Harvey, PhD
2005 - Steven D. Shapiro, MD
2005 - Andrew M. Churg, MD, PhD
2005 - Joanne L. Wright, MD
2004 - John D. Minna, MD
2004 - Phillip A. Dennis, MD, PhD
2003 - John R. Hughes, MD
2002 - David M. Burns, MD
2002 - Joseph F. Fraumeni, MD
2001 - Dietrich Hoffmann, PhD
2001 - Stephen S. Hecht, PhD
1991-2000
2000 - Jill M. Siegfried, PhD
1999 - John E. Rapine, MD
1998 - David Sidransky, MD
1997 - James C. Hogg, MD
1997 - The Honorable Mike Moore*
1997 - Lonnie R. Bristow, MD*
1996 - Neal L. Benowitz, MD
1996 - Jack E. Henningfield, PhD
1996 - Professor Michael Russell
1996 - Stanton A. Glantz, PhD*
1995 - Robert M. Senior, MD
1994 - Hildegard Schüller, DVM, PhD
1993 - Curtis C. Harris, MD
1993 - Michael E. DeBakey, MD*
1992 - Murray E. Jarvik, MD, PhD
1992 - Theodore A. Slotkin, PhD
1991 - Jack Strong, MD
1986-1990
1990 - Gordon L. Snider, MD
1990 - Ronald G. Crystal, MD
1989 - Frank Speizer, MD
1988 - E. L. Wynder, MD
1988 - Sir Richard Doll, MD
1988 - A. Bradford Hill, PhD
1987 - Aaron Janoff, MD
1986 - Oscar Auerbach, MD
*Special Award of Recognition
The selection committee of The Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease is comprised of a blue ribbon panel of academicians, clinicians, and scientists. Nominations are broadly solicited from hospitals, medical schools, and leading scientists from all over the world. The process considers research or clinical contributions so important that it made a major impact on the overall scientific knowledge and medical practice linking cigarette smoking to health.
Robert M. Carey, MD, MACP
Professor of Medicine, Dean, Emeritus
University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA
Aram V. Chobanian, MD
President Emeritus, Dean Emeritus, Professor of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
John T. Cole, MD
Vice Chairman, Medical Specialties
Ochsner Health, New Orleans, LA
Elizabeth T.H. Fontham, DrPH
Founding Dean and Professor Emeritus
LSU Health Sciences Center School of Public Health, New Orleans, LA
Steve Nelson, MD
Dean
Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA
Richard N. Re, MD
Scientific Director
Ochsner Health, New Orleans, LA
Leonardo Seoane, MD
Senior VP, Chief Academic Officer
Ochsner Health, New Orleans, LA
Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport School of Medicine,
Shreveport, LA
David Taylor, MD
Chairman, Department of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine
Ochsner Health, New Orleans, LA
Paul K. Whelton, MB, MD, MSc
Show Chwan Professor of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA
