President Bush Honors Landry ’75

Donald Landry ’75 was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bush in a December ceremony at The White House.

Landry is chair of the Department of Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and chief of medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. His concept that viable stem cell lines can be harvested from embryos that do not survive the process of in-vitro fertilization—an approach that sidesteps the controversial process of destroying living embryos—led to a new avenue of stem cell research. He has presented his ideas to the President’s Council on Bioethics, at the Stem Cell Bioethics conference in Rome, and on Capitol Hill.

The White House said, “Dr. Donald Landry has applied his passion for discovery to expanding human knowledge and improving patient treatment. A man of science and a man of faith, he has demonstrated that there are responsible and ethical ways to advance stem cell research. The United States honors Donald Landry for his diverse and pioneering research and his efforts to improve the well-being of his fellow man.”

The Presidential Citizens Medal is the second-highest award a president can confer upon a civilian.