Schwartz Receives “Colorado’s Nobel Prize”

(November 2014) David Schwartz, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine, last May received the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Annual Award, which sometimes is referred to as “Colorado’s Nobel Prize.”

The foundation honored Schwartz for contributions toward understanding the role that biological and genetic determinants play in the onset of diseases like asthma and other chronic pulmonary diseases influenced by environmental exposures. His research of the causes of pulmonary fibrosis has led to discoveries that have revolutionized the understanding of the disease and its potential treatment.

Schwartz has been instrumental in developing training programs for physician-scientists through his leadership at National Institutes of Health and the University of Colorado. He has helped build a pipeline of physician-scientists and a framework for increased collaboration between clinicians and researchers.

He received the American Thoracic Society Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award, and was named the 2013 American Thoracic Society Amberson Lecturer. He has served on several prestigious scientific review committees and educational/advisory boards, and has lectured extensively across the world. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed research papers, 75 reviews and editorials, 50 book chapters and a textbook.

The Bonfils-Stanton Annual Awards Program was established in 1984 to honor individuals who are advancing excellence in the foundation’s major areas of interest.