News Release

Published on: March 29, 2005

New York Pathologist Receives College of American Pathologists Foundation 2005-06 Scholars Award

Northfield, Ill.—The College of American Pathologists Foundation (CAPF) has awarded Neil MacDonald Renwick, MD, PhD, of Columbia University in New York, a $25,000 fellowship as part of CAPF 2005-06 Scholars Award Program.  

Dr. Renwick will receive one of three awards from this national scholarship program.  Kenichi Tamama, MD, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Omar Hameed, MBChB, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, are the other award recipients.  The Scholars Award Program provides fellowships for advanced training in the science of pathology.

The CAPF Scholar Award enables young medical investigators to develop independent and productive research careers by providing $25,000 in salary support for one year of pure research.   Research and educational advances supported by the CAPF Scholar Award benefit both the research and clinical communities by keeping talented investigators and practicing pathologists in the "pipeline" for tomorrow's discoveries. The program promotes talent in pathology, advances productive investigation, and encourages young pathologists to pursue academic medicine.

Dr. Renwick’s research project titled:  “Development and evaluation of DNA microarrays for viral detection, speciation and discovery” is designed to evaluate this powerful technology as a means to identify viral pathogens that are difficult to detect using routine diagnostic methods and to speciate members of certain virus families, such as adenoviruses and herpesviruses.  Through this detailed study, Dr. Renwick hopes to enhance the ease of viral diagnostics.  

“I cannot thank the College of American Pathologists enough for this wonderful opportunity to pursue translational research,” Dr. Renwick said.  “This grant will enable me to examine the prevalence and clinical associations of adenoviruses and herpesviruses in lung transplant recipients and will also let me follow my interest in viral discovery.  In addition, this grant highlights our role as pathologists in improving health care and in advancing medicine.”

Dr. Renwick received his medical degree from the University of Otago in New Zealand and completed his PhD in virology at the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.  He is currently serving a molecular pathology fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center.

Through annual conferences, publications and special events, the CAPF promotes science and education in an effort to improve the delivery of pathology services to patients, to expand medical research and funding of individual research projects through sponsorship of the Scholars Program, and to encourage leadership through sponsorship of the annual Herbert Lansky Memorial Award and the CAP Foundation Young Leader Awards.

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) is a medical society that serves nearly 16,000 physician members and the laboratory community throughout the world.  It is the world’s largest association composed exclusively of pathologists and is widely considered the leader in laboratory quality assurance.  The CAP is an advocate for high quality and cost-effective patient care.