Skip to main content
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Research

Tripartite Legacy Faculty Prize in Translational Science and Education

2023 Winner

David Cella, PhD, professor of Medical Social Sciences, has been named the winner of the 2023 Tripartite Legacy Faculty Prize in Translational Science and Education.

“I would very much like to thank the people that nominated me for this award. It really means a lot to get recognition from your peers,” Cella said.

The Legacy

The Tripartite Legacy Faculty Prize was established to commemorate the medical teaching legacies of Abraham Albert Hijmans van den Bergh, MD, Isadore Snapper, MD, Hans Popper, MD, Fenton Schaffner, MD, and Geoffrey Kent, MD, PhD. Each was a pioneer in medical research and education during the nineteenth or twentieth century. Each was the special mentor of a privileged successor. All passed between them a unique gift and educational legacy spanning nearly 100 years and several generations. European-born and educated, their lives were forever changed by the Holocaust and war; all but Hijmans van den Bergh reached the United States to continue their careers and briefly worked together at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. (Along with Feinberg graduate Augusta Webster MD, whose contributions are recognized by an endowment at Feinberg.) Through their prolific collaborations and publications, Drs. Snapper, Popper, Schaffner and Kent emerged as international leaders in the study of liver disease.

Dr. Kent later became closely associated with Northwestern University, serving as a professor and chief of Pathology for Northwestern Memorial Hospital and its affiliate hospitals during the 1970s. Today, the legacy of Dr. Kent and his predecessors continues to live and evolve within the excellent individuals teaching and conducting research at Feinberg.

Feinberg presents this honor annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in research that emphasizes translational approaches, teaching and mentoring and leadership. The award is sponsored and supported by the Office of the Dean and is made possible through the generous support of family members and friends of Dr. Geoffrey Kent.

Previous Winners

Previous winners of the Tripartite Legacy Faculty Prize include: