October 24, 1997
Story by Val Alexander Renault, (785) 832-7400
CHANCELLORS CLUB HONORS SCIENTIST
LAWRENCE -- David C. Morrison, a University of Kansas professor of microbiology, molecular genetics and immunology, has been selected as the recipient of the 1997 Chancellors Club Research Award at KU. He is the Kansas Masons Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research in the KU School of Medicine.
Morrison's 30-year career has been dedicated to the study of endotoxins, poisonous substances present in bacteria. Endotoxins play an important role in the infectious disease sepsis, which is among the 15 most common causes of death worldwide and is the number one cause of mortality in intensive-care settings. (Muppets creator Jim Henson died of sepsis.) Morrison has made seminal discoveries in the field, and recently he has contributed to the understanding of antibiotic-induced release of endotoxins.
The $5,000 annual Chancellors Club Research Award honors a KU Medical Center researcher whose work has led to significant scientific discoveries. Morrison is receiving the award at the club's 20th annual meeting tonight at the Lawrence Holiday Inn Holidome.
Established in 1977 by the Kansas University Endowment Association, the Chancellors Club is KU's major-donor organization.
Morrison said he was honored to be selected as the research award recipient: "It is always nice to be recognized for what you do for a living, but when you get one of the highest awards bestowed on your profession at KU, it's awesome."
Letters nominating Morrison for the award came from colleagues at KU Medical Center and scientists in Colorado, California, Germany and Japan. In addition to citing the importance of his research contributions and his international leadership in his field, they noted his involvement in promoting research and his commitment to training young scientists.
Joan S. Hunt, professor of anatomy and cell biology at KU Medical Center, wrote: "While receiving considerable recognition for his personal achievements, David Morrison has also been exceptionally generous in sharing his ideas and energies for the benefit of others. For example, he developed the Kansas Health Foundation Training Program in Cancer Research, which has supplied more than $5 million in support for Kansas research scholars."
Morrison is known as a dedicated teacher whose former students are attracting recognition in the field. Since he joined the KU Medical Center in 1985, Morrison has supervised 33 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. He has won the Medical Center's Innovation in Education, Excellence in Education, and Honors in Education awards.
"Education is really what it's all about," Morrison said. "You train people to be your competitors, and then you have to generate new ideas."In recent years, Morrison's research has focused on the fact that treatment of a disease with antibiotics sometimes contributes to more serious disease or even death. This happens in part because antibiotics allow bacteria to break down, thus releasing endotoxins. The resulting disease can be more serious than the original infection for which an antibiotic was prescribed. However, because antibiotics differ in their chemical makeup and their methods of action, they also differ in the amount of endotoxin they release.
His research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health, and in 1990 he received the prestigious NIH MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award, a 10-year grant that recognizes the extreme value of his research program to the resolution of major problems of human health. In addition, his research is currently being supported by major grants from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
In a field with strong international activity, Morrison is a lecturer in demand worldwide. He has participated in more than 40 international symposia since 1993. He is president of the International Endotoxin Society, whose constitution he helped draft. He has served on the editorial boards of 10 scientific journals, and is the founding editor and editor in chief of the Journal of Endotoxin Research. His research findings have been published in 56 book chapters and 14 comprehensive review articles.
He was the recipient of the Senior Faculty Research Award at the KU Medical Center in 1989. In 1994, he received the Dolph Simons Sr. Award for Excellence in Research in the Biomedical Sciences.
Morrison earned a bachelor's degree in physics in 1963 from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a doctorate in molecular biology and biophysics from Yale University, New Haven, Conn., in 1969. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., he did more postdoctoral work at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, Calif.
Morrison said that the Chancellors Club Research Award recognizes not only him, but the many people who have been pivotal in his career. He especially acknowledged his family. He is married to Pamela Wentworth, a Methodist pastor. The couple have a son, Michael, 15, and daughter, Jenilee, 12.
The KU Endowment Association is an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management foundation for the university. Founded in 1891, the KU Endowment Association is the oldest foundation of its type at a public university in the United States and one of the largest.
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