Renee Stapleton, M.D., Ph.D., University of Vermont assistant professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine and a critical care specialist at Fletcher Allen Health Care, will receive the Jo Rae Wright Award for Outstanding Science at the American Thoracic Society’s (ATS) annual meeting, which will be held in San Diego, Calif., May 6 to 21, 2014. The award recognizes Stapleton’s role as a leading researcher in clinical studies in the intensive care unit and her related publications in prominent national medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine.

This award is based on demonstrated potential for significant scientific achievement, contributions and leadership and honors the late Jo Rae Wright, Ph.D., a former ATS president, who served as dean, vice provost and professor of cell biology, medicine and pediatrics at Duke University’s Graduate School. An outstanding researcher and extraordinary educator, Wright was the first Ph.D. scientist to head the ATS. She dedicated her life’s work to assisting promising young scientists in a variety of disciplines. After her death in January 2012, the ATS established the Jo Rae Wright Award for Outstanding Science to honor her memory and her illustrious career.

Stapleton, who joined UVM/Fletcher Allen in 2007, earned an M.D., as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in epidemiology from the University of Washington School of Medicine and University of Washington in Seattle. Her clinical expertise lies in the areas of nutrition in critical care, end of life care, acute lung injury and general pulmonary and critical care.