Dorothy Andersen and Paul di Sant’Agnese Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award

The award — the highest scientific honor awarded by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation — recognizes those who have made significant contributions to our scientific understanding of CF.

  • The Dorothy Andersen and Paul di Sant'Agnese Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award is the highest scientific honor awarded by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
  • The award recognizes those who have made significant contributions to our scientific understanding of cystic fibrosis.
  • Robert J. Bridges, PhD, was awarded the Dorothy Andersen and Paul di Sant'Agnese Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award at the 2023 North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation created the Dorothy Andersen and Paul di Sant’Agnese Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award to honor both doctors who were pioneering researchers and clinicians whose legacies will be forever linked to their advancements in cystic fibrosis research.

Dorothy Anderson, MD

Credit: Archives and Special Collections, Columbia University Health Sciences Library

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Dorothy Andersen - Cystic fibrosis of the pancreas and its relation to celiac disease: a clinical and pathologic study. American Journal for Diseases of Children. 1938 Download (PDF)

Dorothy Andersen, MD

Dr. Andersen is unquestionably one of the most important figures in the history of cystic fibrosis. Her contributions to the field, including her discovery of CF in 1938, sparked decades of scientific progress that have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

It was during her time as a pathologist at Babies Hospital at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center — now the NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital — that she discovered what was a previously unknown disease. During the autopsy of a child who died of suspected celiac disease, she noticed an “unexpected lesion in the pancreas.” [1] After further research of other infants also believed to have died from celiac disease, she wrote a paper in 1938 in which she identified “cystic fibrosis of the pancreas” as a new disease. [1,2]

In a 1951 paper, Dr. Andersen and co-author Dr. Walter Kessler describe their research into heat prostration in children with CF during a New York heat wave which found that children with CF are susceptible to heatstroke after continued exposure to high temperatures. [3] They also noted that the sweat glands did not function properly in people with CF. [4] Dr. Andersen later co-authored an article with her colleague — and mentee — Dr. di Sant’Agnese in which they wrote about the high salt content in sweat in people with CF and how it could be used to diagnose them. [1]

Dr. Andersen, who died in 1963, was an honorary chair of the National Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation — now known as the CF Foundation. Her foundational, lifelong work served as a springboard for others to dive deeper into the disease, establish effective diagnostic tools, identify the underlying causes, and develop treatments for cystic fibrosis.

Paul di Sant'Agnese, MD                                    

In 1944, Dr. Andersen hired Dr. di Sant’Agnese to work at Columbia-Presbyterian, where the young pediatric pathologist began caring for children with CF. [4] At that time, little was known about the disease beyond the lack of pancreatic enzymes, and his early research provided insight into the effects of the disease on the lungs. In 1946, he reported the first use of an inhaled antibiotic (penicillin) to treat children with CF.

Dr. di Sant’Agnese collaborated with Dr. Andersen and together they co-authored a paper in 1953 in which they wrote about the high salt content in sweat in people with CF and how it could be used to diagnose them. [1] This finding paved the way for the sweat test, which Dr. di Sant’Agnese initially created and was later refined. The sweat test became the gold standard for diagnosing cystic fibrosis.

Dr. di Sant’Agnese served the medical and CF community throughout his five-decade long career. Among his many contributions, he launched one of the first CF care centers in the United States and established the Pediatric Metabolism Branch at the National Institutes of Health, where he mentored physicians and trainees — many of whom went on to become leading CF scientists.

References

1 Clague, Stephanie. Dorothy Hansine Andersen. The Lancet Respir Med. 2014 March;2(3):184-185. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(14)70057-8.

2 Andersen, D. Cystic fibrosis of the pancreas and its relation to celiac disease: a clinical and pathologic study. American Journal of Diseases of Children. 1938;56(2):344-399.

3 Kessler, Walter R., & Andersen, Dorothy H. Heat prostration in fibrocystic disease of the pancreas and other conditions. Pediatrics. 1951;8(5):648-656. doi: 10.1542/peds.8.5.648.

4 Hafner, K. The Lost Women of Science, Episode 2: The Matilda Effect. Scientific American. 2021. Accessed September 12, 2023. Lost Women of Science, Episode 2: The Matilda Effect - Scientific American

Dr. Paul di Sant'Agnese
Previous Awardees

2017
Philip J. Thomas, PhD
Gergely L. Lukacs, MD, PhD

2016
Raymond Frizzell, PhD

2010
Garry Cutting, MD
Peter Durie, MD
Mitch Drumm, PhD

2008
Michael Knowles, MD

2006
Pamela Davis, MD, PhD

2005
Philip Farrell, MD, PhD
Arnold Smith, MD

2003
Frank Accurso, MD

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