College of Medicine Honors Three With Drake Medals

CINCINNATI—The University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine honored two current faculty members and one alumnus Saturday with Daniel Drake Medals.

The Daniel Drake Medal, established in 1985, is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Medicine and is given annually to living faculty or alumni for their outstanding and unique contributions to medical education, scholarship and research. The medal is named for Daniel Drake, who in 1819 founded the Medical College of Ohio, the precursor to today’s UC College of Medicine.

Drake Medal recipients for 2013 are Taylor "Tuck” Asbury, MD, professor emeritus in the college’s ophthalmology department, Robert Rakel, MD, graduate of the class of 1958 with an appointment at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, and Peter Stambrook, PhD, UC professor in the molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology department.

Asbury, Rakel and Stambrook received their medals during a ceremony and dinner at the Queen City Club Saturday, May 18.

"This year’s Drake Medal winners have dedicated years to extraordinary clinical care and research that has made such a difference in the lives of people in our community and throughout the world,” said Thomas Boat, MD, Christian R. Holmes Professor and Dean, UC College of Medicine, and Vice President for Health Affairs. "They are certainly shining examples of the caring, dedication and prowess of our faculty and alumni.”

2013 Drake Medal Recipients:

Taylor "Tuck” Asbury, MD

Taylor "Tuck” Asbury, MD, a native Cincinnatian, graduated from Yale University in 1946 and from the UC College of Medicine in 1949. He has played a critical role in the establishment of several endowed chairs and long-term support for the Cincinnati Eye Bank, which advances ophthalmic research and resident training. He is credited with establishing the residency in ophthalmology at UC and served as a member of the Resident Selection Committee from 1956 until 2000, chairing the committee from 1956 to 1990. In this capacity, he selected or helped select many of the Cincinnati-area ophthalmologists currently active in clinical practice. Asbury’s impact on medical education was recognized in 1966 when he was elected member of the American Eye Study Club, an organization for which he served as president in 1971.

Robert Rakel, MD

Robert Rakel, MD, was a member of the Class of 1958 at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and entered private practice in California in 1962. He became chairman of the family practice program at the University of California, Irvine in 1969. In 1971 he was named head of family medicine at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, where he established the History of Medicine Society in 1972 and directed it until 1985. He joined Baylor in 1985 as associate dean for academic and clinical affairs and chairman of family medicine—a position he held until 1997. At Baylor, Rakel again established a History of Medicine Society and still serves as its director. He hosted "Family Practice Update” on Lifetime Medical Television from 1986 to 1993.

Peter Stambrook, PhD

Peter Stambrook, PhD, earned his PhD in developmental biology from SUNY Buffalo. He joined the UC College of Medicine faculty in 1981 and served 28 years in the Department of Cell and Cancer Biology (formerly Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy), rising to become the Francis Brunning Professor and Chairman of the department in 1996. He stepped down as chair after 12 years and became a professor of molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an Overseas Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in recognition of his work in DNA recombination, cancer biology and stem cells. In 2011 Stambrook was awarded UC’s George Rieveschl Jr. Award for Distinguished Scientific Research.

>>See the 2013

Drake Medal program

, which includes full biographies and written statements by each award winner.