The 2016 Leaders in Health Care Awards: Outstanding Medical Research

WINNER
Colleen Delaney, M.D.
Associate Member, Clinical Research Division, and Madeleine Dabney Adams Endowed Chair in AML Research, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle

The heart and soul of Colleen Delaneys medical practice is patient care. To provide meaningful hope to patients where their future is uncertain and to walk that path with them is what I care most about, she says. I develop long-term relationships with my patients and their families. Now, I have the opportunity to make an even bigger impact on a more global scale. This drives me to work harder.

Delaney is pioneering methods to make umbilical cord blood transplants more readily available and successful worldwide. In 2006, she founded Fred Hutchs Cord Blood Program, which has since seen nearly 300 cord blood transplant recipients. She has numerous clinical trials underway and is optimistic that cord blood will someday enable a donor for any blood-disease patient in need.

My biggest inspiration and motivation has been and will always be the patients I am privileged to care for, she asserts. They by far have the toughest job, as we all know that cancer sucks and so does the treatment and we are not always successful. It is an amazing feeling to develop therapies that make a palpable difference for cancer patients of all ages and more than enough motivation to push even harder until all my patients are successfully cured.

SILVER AWARD
Charles E. Murry, M.D.
Professor of Pathology, Bioengineering and Medicine/Cardiology, University of Washington, Seattle

A worldwide leader in the field of regenerative medicine, Charles E. Murrys work has been recognized with numerous awards. Under his leadership, scientists in UW Medicines Heart Regeneration Program have shown it is possible to repair damaged heart muscle with human stem cells, a major breakthrough. The approach has the potential to transform the treatment of heart failure, prolonging the lives of patients who have suffered major heart attacks and improving their quality of life. Murrys work has advanced the understanding of how the human cardiovascular system grows and develops.