Mayo Clinic Announces 2010 Distinguished Alumni Awards

Friday, August 13, 2010

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Two local physicians are among the four Mayo Clinic alumni who have been awarded the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumni Award, honoring excellence in patient care, research and education.

The 2010 awardees are David Clapham, M.D., Ph.D., Eugene Kern, M.D., Bernard Morrey, M.D., and John Stobo, M.D. They will be added to a select group of individuals who have exemplified Mayo Clinic's ideals and mission at a black-tie dinner at the Mayo Foundation House on Friday, Aug. 13.

The Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees established the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumni Award in 1981 to show appreciation for the exceptional contributions of Mayo alumni to the field of medicine. Individuals who receive the award have been recognized nationally and often internationally in their fields.

Eugene Kern, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Otolaryngology, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic

Dr. Kern is recognized around the world for excellence in teaching. He trained 120 ear, nose and throat surgical residents in rhinologic surgery at Mayo Clinic, and mentored numerous laboratory trainees, including 31 with national research awards and published papers. Dr. Kern was director of Mayo Clinic's ENT Department Residency Training Program from 1981 to 1987; was voted Teacher of the Year at Mayo Graduate School in 1975, 1977, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997 and 1998; and was affirmed to the Mayo Clinic Teacher Hall of Fame in 1991. He has made several hundred medical presentations to physicians and students around the world, including Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America.

When Dr. Kern entered otolaryngology, scientific knowledge in the rhinologic diseases was limited, the physiology of the nose and sinuses was unknown, and management of many conditions was a conundrum. For 30 years, Dr. Kern steadily enlarged the broad understanding of rhinologic diagnosis and treatment by taking his careful clinical observations to Mayo Clinic laboratories and libraries, and leading his associates in collaborative research. His groundbreaking contributions to the clinical practice of rhinology have improved and advanced patient care. He is internationally known as one of the best rhinologic surgeons in the world.

Bernard Morrey, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Orthopedics, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic

The contributions of Dr. Morrey as a distinguished clinician and scientist in orthopedic surgery place him as one of the most influential orthopedic surgeons of the last half-century. He is a prominent authority on elbow surgery and has made significant contributions to the anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and surgical reconstruction of the elbow.

Dr. Morrey was a consultant and professor in the Department of Orthopedics at Mayo Clinic from 1978 to 2009. He completed his residency in orthopedics at the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education.

With his interest focused on adult reconstructive surgery — emphasizing the hip, knee and elbow — and basic research involving joint kinematics, Dr. Morrey has made important contributions to hip and knee arthroplasty. He introduced one of the first short femoral component stems for use in hip surgery — a design now popular worldwide as a bone-sparing alternative to conventional hip arthroplasty. Dr. Morrey also pioneered important treatments for elbow stiffness and reconstruction, and developed a standardized means of reporting elbow outcomes.

Dr. Morrey holds six patents for orthopedic devices and is a former member and a consultant to the Food and Drug Administration's Orthopedic Device Panel. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Morrey is a former aerospace engineer at NASA in Houston and a former consultant to the National Football League.

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