Medical center people
Irving Weissman
William Dement
Samuel LeBaron
Irving Weissman, MD, the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation and director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, received an honorary doctor of science degree from Columbia University during the May 17 commencement exercises. Weissman isolated the first bone marrow-derived blood-forming stem cells from mice. Soon after, he and colleagues identified human blood-forming stem cells.
William Dement, MD, PhD, the Lowell W. and Josephine Q. Berry Professor, received an honorary doctor of science degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, during commencement exercises on May 12. He was described at the ceremony as the scientist who "changed forever the way sleep disorders and sleep-related pathologies are viewed and treated." In 1970, Dement founded the Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Center at Stanford, the first center of its kind.
Samuel LeBaron, MD, PhD, professor of family medicine, is the recipient of the 2006 California Family Physician of the Year award, presented by the California Academy of Family Physicians. LeBaron also directs the Center for Education in Family and Community Medicine.