Joseph Broderick, MD, Honored With UC's William Howard Taft Medal

Joseph Broderick, MD, Albert Barnes Voorheis Chair of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, is this year’s recipient of the William Howard Taft Medal for Notable Achievement, the University of Cincinnati Alumni Association’s highest alumni honor that recognizes career accomplishments in the honoree’s chosen field.

The award is in honor and memory of William Howard Taft, Law 1880, Hon. ’25, 27th president of the United States and former chief justice of the United States. 

Broderick, Med ’82, is an internationally known stroke researcher, teacher and clinician. A native of Cincinnati, he has been a member of the College of Medicine faculty since 1987 and department chair since 2000. In addition, he serves as research director of the UC Neuroscience Institute and director of UC’s Cerebrovascular Research Program. He was a co-founder of what is now the UC Stroke Team, the first regional stroke team in the United States.

Broderick was among the UC researchers who played a leading role in developing and testing the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, to treat acute ischemic stroke. Such a stroke occurs when an artery to the brain is blocked, typically by a blood clot. Intravenous tPA is the only FDA-approved treatment for stroke caused by a blood clot.

"I am humbled to be a recipient of this year’s William Howard Taft Medal for Notable Achievement and privileged to have witnessed the tremendous progress in stroke treatment, prevention and recovery at the University of Cincinnati and UC Medical Center over the past 25-plus years,” Broderick said.

"My heartfelt thanks go to the patients, and particularly to their families, who courageously make the difficult decision to participate in clinical stroke studies across our region. It also goes to the remarkable team of stroke clinicians/researchers at the University of Cincinnati with whom I have had the privilege of working for over 25 years.

"Finally, I am very proud to be an alumnus of UC and am thankful for what my teachers, students and colleagues have taught me over the past 30 years—and they still teach me new things every day.”

Other UC Alumni Association honorees for 2013 are:

• William Keating Jr., Bus ’76, Law ’79, Alumni Distinguished Service Award.

• Jeffery Burgin Jr., A&S ’97, Mosaic Award.

• Robert Coppola, CECH ’00, and Robert Richardson Jr., CEAS ’02, Law ’05, Jeffrey Hurwitz Young Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award.