Patrick Wong, Ph.D.’75, received the University of Vermont College of Medicine’s 2015 Medical Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award at the Annual Graduate Student Research Showcase Award Presentation and Reception on Monday, October 5, 2015. A professor emeritus of pharmacology at New York Medical College and chairman and CEO of BioProst Pharmaceuticals, Wong is a pioneer in elucidating the role of prostaglandins in inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. 

The UVM Graduate Student Research Showcase was held Monday, October 5 and 6, 2015, and included graduate student research talks, a graduate student research poster session, and a keynote lecture by Wong, titled “Transitioning from Academia to Industry," on October 6. Graduate Student Research Day Junior Division award recipients included: First place - Nicholas D'Alberto, Neuroscience Graduate Program; second place - Phill Munson, Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences; and third place - Miranda Redmond, Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences. Senior Division award recipients included: First place - Jamie Stern, Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences; second place: Michael Secinaro, Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences; and third place (tied) - Joyce Thompson and Rajiv Jumani, Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences.

Wong was mentored by former UVM associate professor of biochemistry and lipid biochemist Roy Wuthier, Ph.D., while a doctoral student at the UVM College of Medicine. It was while working with Wuthier that he discovered a class of lipids now known as prostaglandins. In addition to his long-held positions at New York Medical College and BioProst Pharmaceuticals, Wong has served twice as a Fogarty Senior International Research Fellow and Visiting Professor working with Nobel Laureate Professor Bengt Samuelsson at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award is presented every year to an alumnus/a from the College of Medicine’s Ph.D. or M.S. program who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in basic, clinical or applied research; education; industry; public service/humanitarianism; and/or outstanding commitment to the College of Medicine community. The graduate award recipient is selected in the spring and invited to return to campus the following fall to speak to current graduate students.