Editor of influential medical journal to deliver Rennebohm Lecture

Jeffrey Drazen, editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, will deliver the 2010 Rennebohm Lecture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on Thursday, April 8.

At 8:30 a.m., he will speak in Room 2002 of Rennebohm Hall, 777 Highland Ave., on “Leukotrienes in Asthma: From Bench to Bedside to Bench to Bedside.” He will also deliver a second lecture, “The Cholesterol Lowering Story: Is It Always Good?” That lecture will also take place in Room 2002 of Rennebohm Hall at 1 p.m. A reception will be held immediately following the final lecture in the Rennebohm Hall Atrium.

Drazen also is a renowned pulmonologist and research leader in asthma. He currently holds the positions of senior physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Distinguished Parker B. Francis Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, professor of physiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and adjunct professor of medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine.

A researcher in the field of pulmonary medicine, Drazen defined the role of novel endogenous chemical agents in asthma. This led to four new licensed pharmaceuticals for asthma, now used in the treatment of millions of people worldwide.

Drazen has served on the editorial boards of a variety of journals and has been an associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation and the American Review of Respiratory Disease.

In 2000, he assumed the post of editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. During his tenure, the journal has published major papers advancing the science of medicine, including the first descriptions of SARS and modifications in the treatment of cancer, heart disease and lung disease, and it has been at the forefront of the worldwide effort to register all clinical trials.

The Oscar Rennebohm Foundation supports the Rennebohm Lecture, which has invited an outstanding scientist, practitioner or educator to the School of Pharmacy every year since 1955.