2004 Recipient: Dr. Paul D. Webster, III

Dr. Paul D. Webster was awarded the Vay Liang and Frisca Go Award by the American Pancreatic Association, November 3, 2004, in recognition of his lifetime contributions in pancreatology. Dr. Webster first published on acute pancreatitis as a medical student, continued his interest and published a review of the diagnostic value of serum amylase in the New England Journal of Medicine. As a fellow at Duke University Medical Center he initiated a series of studies which spanned 15 years on effects of fasting, feeding, and stimulation with pancreozyme (CCK) and Bethanechol on the pigeon or rat pancreas. He demonstrated not only do these agents increase pancreatic secretion but they initiate protein, RNA, and DNA synthesis within minutes, likewise there were increases in pancreatic glucose, and fatty acid oxidation, and incorporation into phospholipids. He later participated in developing a model of pancreatic cancer but this model was not widely used.

Dr. Webster, along with with Drs. Brooks and Vay Liang Go, served as co-founders of the American Pancreatic Association which was initially called the Canadian-American Pancreatic Study Group, then the American Pancreatic Study Group, and finally the American Pancreatic Association. He acted as the first executive secretary and later served as president of the organization. He was a charter member of the National Pancreatic Task Force; a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, president of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation, and secretary of the American Gastroenterological Association. He is a member of many research and clinical organizations.

Dr. Webster completed his internship on the Boston University service at Boston City Hospital, medical residency and fellowship at the University of Minnesota and fellowship in gastroenterology at Duke University Medical Center where he was appointed an Assistant Professor of medicine. He then moved to the Medical College of Georgia. He served as Chief of Gastroenterology and Chairman, Department of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia. He received both a clinical investigator award and medical investigator award from the Veterans Administration. Dr. Webster served in the United States Army and later in the United States Army Reserve and retired as a Brigadier General in the Medical Corp.