 | Dixon Kaufman, MD, PhD |  | Dr. Kaufman with Nathaniel Soper, MD, (l) and Ron Shapiro, MD (r)
|  | Drs. Soper (l) and Kaufman with Janice Feinberg (r) |
Surgery Invests a National Leader in Transplantation"Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." In quoting Sir Winston Churchill, Dixon Kaufman, MD, PhD, set the inspiring tone for his investiture as the Fowler McCormick Professor. On October 22, gathered together with his colleagues, friends, and family at the Intercontinental Chicago, Dr. Kaufman recognized the legacy bestowed upon him, and the forward focus on advancing the field of cellular therapies for treatment of diabetes. The result of a generous gift bequeathed to Northwestern University from the estate of Fowler McCormick in 1974, the Fowler McCormick Professorship was established in 2008. The professorship remembers Mr. McCormick, a native of Chicago and scion of two distinguished American families, as the eldest grandson of both John D. Rockefeller Sr. and Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the reaper. Loyal and Edith Davis Professor of Surgery, department chair, and the evening's emcee, Nathaniel Soper, MD, opened the ceremony. Recognizing Dr. Kaufman's vast contributions to the department, Dr. Soper said, "When I became chair, I wanted to do whatever I could to support Dixon in all of his endeavors, because of the great work that he has done." He then introduced Ron Shapiro, MD, Robert J. Corry Chair in Transplantation Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, and Dr. Kaufman's formal extoller. Dr. Shapiro heralded Dr. Kaufman's accomplishments and his leadership in the field of clinical transplantation. Drawing smiles from the audience, he also described Dr. Kaufman as a "poster child for nice guys finishing first." "He has always been a good friend and collaborator, and has been supportive for those of us outside Northwestern who have attempted to perform innovative work outside the mainstream of conventional wisdom," he said. Before sharing his own remarks, Dr. Kaufman was presented with a medallion—a physical representation of the highest honor the medical school can bestow upon its faculty—by both Drs. Soper and J. Larry Jameson, vice president for medical affairs and Lewis Landsberg Dean of the Feinberg School of Medicine. Known internationally as an innovative investigator in islet cell transplantation, Dr. Kaufman was recruited to Northwestern University as assistant professor in 1992 to develop a program in basic and clinical research in pancreatic and islet transplantation for diabetes mellitus. In 2000, he was named vice chair for research, and in 2004, he was appointed as a tenured professor in the Department of Surgery. A member of the Dean’s Research Council and the associate director of the clinical transplant laboratory, Dr. Kaufman also serves on the editorial boards of Transplantation and Cell Transplantation and is a council member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. Photo credit: Nathan Mandell | 
