Julius Friedenwald Medal
Daniel K. Podolsky, MD, AGAF
University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
The AGA awards the 2009 Julius Friedenwald Medal, AGA’s highest honor, to Daniel K. Podolsky, MD, AGAF. This award, presented annually since 1941, recognizes a physician for lifelong contributions to the field of gastroenterology.
Dr. Podolsky has contributed significantly to the AGA throughout his career. In 2003, as president of the AGA, he oversaw the development of a strategic plan and mission that respected and embodied the diversity of the association in embracing the values of both academic and community gastroenterology. Dr. Podolsky has served on numerous committees of the AGA, the Governing Board and the Foundation for Digestive Health and Nutrition. During his tenure as chair of the Research Policy Committee, AGA successfully advocated for the congressional mandate establishing the National Commission on Digestive Disease. His contributions helped forge relationships with other national societies, including those in Europe and Japan, and created the AGA Institute Future Trends Committee, and solidified AGA’s leadership role in both the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Podolsky is a past editor-in-chief of Gastroenterology and currently serves as chairman of its editorial board. In 2007, he received the AGA Distinguished Achievement Award, in recognition of his important contributions in the arena of basic science on which understanding of the patho-biology of inflammatory bowel diseases has been built.
Dr. Podolsky is president of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He also serves as a professor of medicine and the Doris and Bryan Wildenthal Distinguished Chair in Medical Science at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Prior to moving to Texas, Dr. Podolsky was the Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of Gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital as well as Director of the NIH-funded Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. He also served as the Chief Academic Officer of Partners HealthCare System.
Dr. Podolsky earned his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Harvard College and his medical degree magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, and then completed his postdoctoral residency and fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Podolsky has made many contributions through the study of epithelial biology and mucosal immune defense. His innovative work has advanced our understanding of the mechanisms of mucosal injury, healing and repair in the context of a range of gastrointestinal disorders. This work has provided important insights into the patho-physiology and therapy of inflammatory bowel disease.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Podolsky has also supervised the training of more than 75 GI fellows and 75 post-doctoral research fellows who are now active contributors to the field. He is the author of more than 300 original peer-reviewed articles, reviews and textbook chapters.
