2009 Autumn General Meeting

Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Investigation

Keith A. Josephs and Jordan Orange

The recipients of the 2009 Judson Daland Prize are Dr. Keith A. Josephs, M.S.T., M.D., M.S., Associate Professor of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in recognition of his work on clinical, pathological and imaging correlates of neurodegenerative and other neurological diseases and Dr. Jordan Orange, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Jeffery Modell Diagnostic Center for Primary Immunodeficiency, Attending Physician, Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in recognition of his work on congenital defects of innate immunity and natural killer cells.  The award was presented by the Chair of the Selection Committee, Clyde F. Barker, Donald Guthrie Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Josephs’ work has focused on correlating clinical manifestations with imaging and pathological findings in patients with neurodegenerative and other neurological diseases.  He has made significant contributions to deciphering the complexity of the pathologies underlying neurodegenerative diseases.  He has identified markers that allow the prediction of brain pathology in these patients, in order to provide definitive diagnosis and hence appropriate treatment.

He has identified a new disease called neurofilament inclusion body disease (NIBD), a neurodegenerative disorder associated with abnormal deposition of intermediate filaments in the brain.  He has also identified a variant of progressive supranuclear palsy, a disease in which abnormal protein deposition within oligodendroglial cells causes destruction of the descending corticospinal tracts.  His research has shown significant overlapping of clinical and pathological features between progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration and the frontotemporal lobar degenerations.  This has led to better understanding, and reclassification, of much of the entire field of neurodegenerative disorders.

In studies of speech and language disorders Dr. Josephs has demonstrated an association between a motor speech disorder and the presence in the brain of the microtubule associated protein.    In addition, he has shown that patients presenting with clinical features of motor neuron disease have a homogeneous underlying pathology.  Clinicians worldwide are now using these clinical markers to help predict the underlying pathology, and hence guide treatment of patients with progressive neurodegenerative disorders.  He has also utilized cutting edge imaging techniques to demonstrate signatures of a number of different neurodegenerative pathologies thus aiding diagnosis.  With these imaging techniques, for example, he showed that the deposition of amyloid in the brain in patients with Alzheimer’s disease is not associated with increased rates of brain atrophy.  This finding has significant impact on the utility of markers of disease progression in future treatments targeting beta-amyloid, one of the abnormal proteins in Alzheimer’s disease.

In addition to his significant contributions to the field of neurodegenerative diseases, Dr. Josephs has made important patient-oriented research contributions in other neurological diseases.  Dr. Josephs identified, for the first time, an important association between dementia and celiac disease.  Similarly, based on a single patient encounter which lead him to study Manganese neurotoxicity, he identified an association between exposure to welding fumes and the subsequent development of Parkinsonian features.  This finding has had a significant impact on welders by encouraging adequate protection with masks and proper ventilation.

Dr. Jordan Orange is a pioneer in understanding inborn human defects of the innate immune system.  In studies of human Natural Killer (NK) cell deficiencies he has found novel connections between inborn defects of the immune system and innate immunity.  These have defined paradigms in host defense and given rise to novel therapeutic approaches.

The innate immune system is our initial defense against danger.  It protects us from encounters with pathogens that begin at birth and serves as a first line of defense throughout life.  Without our innate immune system we would be susceptible to many life-threatening infections and malignancies.  So far relevance of the innate immune system to human disease has been demonstrated mainly by congenital deficiencies of innate immunity.  It is in these unusual diseases that Dr. Orange has focused his work.

While working toward his Ph.D., Dr. Orange noted that natural killer (NK) cells, which are a major component of the innate immune system, produce cytokines to participate in antiviral defense.  During his clinical training in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at Children’s Hospital Boston, Dr. Orange’s interest in the innate immune system and NK cells continued to flourish.  Upon returning to the laboratory, he focused upon defining human deficiencies of NK cells and the innate immune system and in obtaining basic scientific insights from these diseases.

Over the past decade, Dr. Orange has studied human NK cell deficiencies in distinct genetic disorders of immunity.  In these diseases, he has been able to characterize NK cell biology on a mechanistic level.  For example in Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, he has determined that cytoskeletal reorganization is impaired in NK cells leading to defective formation of the immunological synapse, the critical juncture between an immune cell and its target that enables immune function.  In Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, this deficiency likely explains the atypical susceptibility to herpes viruses and hematologic malignancies.  He also identified a therapeutic means for bypassing the defect and restoring function of the immunological synapse in the cells of an afflicted patient.  He has recently used this finding to develop and initiate a phase-1 clinical trial with the ultimate objective of restoring NK cell activity and improving outcome in this difficult disease.  He has also identified defects of NK cells and innate immunity in NF-κB essential modulator deficiency.  In this rare disease, he has defined a novel connection between rapidly-induced protein function and innate immune defense, an insight that may not have been possible without studying this disorder.  Dr. Orange’s work has led him from bedside to bench and bench to bedside and has changed the understanding of NK cells, innate immunity and the complex immunologic diseases in which they are affected.

The Daland Prize selection committee consisted of Clyde F. Barker (chair), Donald Guthrie Professor, University of Pennsylvania; John N. Loeb, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Columbia University; Arno Motulsky, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Genome Sciences, University of Washington; and Thomas E. Starzl, Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

2011 Autumn General Meeting

Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Investigation

Svati Shah

The 2011 recipient of the American Philosophical Society’s Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Patient-oriented Clinical Investigation is Svati Shah, M.D., M.H.S., in recognition of her work on novel metabolomic biomarkers for cardiovascular events.  Dr. Shah is an assistant professor and Medical Director of the Adult Cardiovascular Genetics Clinic at Duke University.  She is also a member of the faculty at the Duke Center for Human Genetics, Duke Clinical Research Institute, and Sarah W. Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center. The award was presented by the Chair of the Selection Committee and President of the American Philosophical Society, Clyde F. Barker, Donald Guthrie Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Svati Shah’s clinical research focuses on the molecular epidemiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD).  She has used novel translational technologies to make important discoveries of biomarkers for improved CVD risk prediction.  She is also focusing her efforts on the implications and application of these discoveries to patient care.

Profiling of small-molecule metabolites holds promise for giving a more complete picture of human systems biology. “Unbiased” metabolomic profiling has been used to predict coronary artery disease (CAD), but the non-quantitative nature reduces clinical utility.  Further, the genetic basis of these profiles is not established.  Shah hypothesized that targeted, quantitative metabolomic profiles are heritable; identify patients with CAD and predict subsequent cardiovascular events.

Her research observed that simple metabolomic profiles, in particular branched-chain amino acids and their byproducts, are highly heritable and strongly differentiate patients with CAD and MI, providing improved risk discrimination beyond standard clinical factors.  Metabolite signatures composed of dicarboxylacylcarnitines are independently predictive of subsequent cardiovascular events. These results implicate branched-chain amino acid catabolism and other mitochondrial processes in cardiovascular disease pathogenesis, and could have significant clinical implications for cardiovascular risk prediction, diagnosis, and identification of genetic factors underlying the heritability of cardiovascular disease.

The Daland Prize selection committee consisted of Clyde F. Barker (chair), Donald Guthrie Professor of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania; John N. Loeb, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Columbia University; Arno Motulsky, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Genome Sciences, University of Washington; and Thomas E. Starzl, Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

2014 Autumn General Meeting

Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Investigation

Howard Y. Chang

The 2014 recipient of the American Philosophical Society's Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Patient-oriented Clinical Investigation is Howard Y. Chang in recognition of his discovery of the existence and function of a new class of pervasive genes in the human genome, termed long noncoding RNAs (1ncRNAs). Dr Chang's research is focused on mechanisms that coordinate the activities of genes that control cell fate. He has pioneered methods to identify key regulators of large-scale transcriptional programs important in development of cancer, aging and response to infections. His discoveries have introduced the important and pervasive roles of long noncoding RNAs in chromatin regulation. He also invented the first method to map RNA occupancy of chromatin genome-wide, revealing that each lRNA can interact extensively with hundreds or thousands of sites across the genome.

Dr. Chang received a Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998 and an M.D. at Harvard Medical School in 2000. He completed his residency and postdoc in dermatology and genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine in 2004, and became an assistant professor in its Department of Dermatology. He is currently a professor of dermatology at Stanford and Early Career Scientist at Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The Daland Prize selection committee consisted of Clyde F. Barker (chair), Donald Guthrie Professor of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania; John N. Loeb, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Columbia University; Arno Motulsky, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Genome Sciences, University of Washington; and Thomas E. Starzl, Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

BEQUESTS have several basic forms. A specific bequest directs that the APS is to receive a specific piece of property, such as a number of shares in a particular stock, a rare book, or a work of art. A general bequest directs that the APS receive a specified dollar amount. A residual bequest designates all or a portion of whatever remains after all debts, taxes, expenses, and all other bequests have been paid. A contingent bequest takes effect only if the primary intention cannot be met—e.g., if there are no surviving beneficiaries. Bequests may be unrestricted or restricted; in the latter case, donors are encouraged to contact the Development Office to assure that the Society will be able to fulfill the donor’s intentions for the use of the funds. In the State of Pennsylvania, bequests may be established irrevocably.

A TESTAMENTARY TRUST is a charitable remainder trust (established under the donor’s will) that provides payments to a beneficiary (often a spouse) for life. The principal is paid to the APS upon the death of the beneficiary.

CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITIES are a form of life income gift. In exchange for a transfer of cash or securities, the APS contractually guarantees to make fixed annuity payments to the donor and/or another beneficiary. The payout rate depends on the age and number of beneficiaries.

DEFERRED INCOME GIFT ANNUITIES postpone annuity payments until a set time in the future—at retirement, for example. This type of gift is useful for donors who have a high current income, and who wish to augment potential retirement income on a tax-favored basis.

CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUSTS (CRT) provide fixed income (Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust) or variable income (Charitable Remainder Unitrust) to the donor and/or another beneficiary such as a spouse. Upon the death of the last beneficiary, the principal passes to the APS. The donor establishes the trust with cash, securities, or real estate and specifies how the trust income and principal are to be distributed. Most CRT’s are for life, though some are term trusts with a limited period of years, not to exceed 20. Term trusts are sometimes used to provide tuition to grandchildren for private school or college, with the principal then coming to the charity.

CHARITABLE LEAD TRUSTS enable the donor to make a charitable gift while retaining the trust assets in his or her family. Income from the trust is paid to the APS for a specified period of years. In a grantor lead trust, the assets are returned to the donor at the end of the trust term. In a nongrantor lead trust, the assets are typically distributed to children or grandchildren at the end of the trust term. The advantage of the nongrantor type is that it can significantly reduce the gift and estate taxes on the value of assets used to fund the trust. Any appreciation in the trust’s assets will avoid gift and estate taxes.

REAL ESTATE may be contributed outright, or it may be placed in a trust and sold to provide a stream of life income until the beneficiaries’ death, at which time the principal comes to the APS. Donors may also make a gift of a “remainder interest” in a personal residence or farm. This “retained life estate” plan enables the donor to continue to occupy the residence without disruption. A charitable deduction, often substantial, is given for the present value of the remainder interest.

The CHIP—(CHARITABLE IRREVOCABLE PLEDGE) takes advantage of the fact that, in the State of Pennsylvania, donors may irrevocably designate a charity as a beneficiary in their wills. A CHIP—typically a substantial sum—creates an asset on the charity’s balance sheet, against which the charity may borrow (e.g., for a current building or renovation program). The donor avoids being “maxed out” on his or her annual charitable deductions and maintains investment control of the asset and its liquidity. The donor may also pledge to contribute an annual sum to absorb the interest cost of borrowing the principal amount of the pledge.

Donors may designate the APS as the beneficiary of a LIFE INSURANCE policy, or make a gift to the Society of a paid-up policy.

We continue to monitor the current public health situation and will open the exhibition in a limited capacity when it is safe to do so, hopefully in 2021. A virtual tour is available now.

Currently not accepting exhibition tour requests due to the Society's health and safety measures during the pandemic. 

Information on booking distance learning programs coming soon! In the meantime, email [email protected] with any questions.

Gifts to Library Collections

The American Philosophical Society Library welcomes contributions of books, manuscripts, personal papers, works of art on paper, digital objects, and other materials suitable for the Library’s collections. 

Gifts of tangible personal property are accepted when donated materials enhance existing collections, fall within the collection development policy of the Library, or represent an extraordinary opportunity to document areas related to the mission of the Library. 

The Library’s major collecting areas are:

• American history, with an emphasis on the mid-Atlantic region, ca.1750–1840
• American anthropology, with an emphasis on Native American languages and cultures
• Natural history and natural philosophy
• Life sciences, with an emphasis on evolutionary theory, genetics, molecular biology, and paleontology
• Physical sciences in the 20th and 21st centuries, with an emphasis on quantum physics
• Medical research in the 20th and 21st centuries

All Library acquisitions are catalogued and made available for scholarly use as quickly as possible after accessioning.

Prospective donors should contact the Librarian, at [email protected].

In keeping with IRS regulations for gifts of tangible personal property, professional appraisals of gifts for tax purposes are the responsibility of donors.

Gifts to Museum Collections

The Museum welcomes contributions of fine art, scientific instruments, patent models, miniatures, medals and medallions, furniture and other decorative arts, and archaeological and ethnographic objects in accordance with the scope and themes of its collection.  

The collection of the APS Museum reflects the central role of the APS—and Philadelphia—in the founding of the nation and the early development of science and technology in the colonies and early Republic. The collection is strongest in:

• Objects relating to early American history (especially Benjamin Franklin, the Society’s founder)
• Early American portraits
• The history of science and technology from the 18th century through the early 20th century

The collection is housed in a secure, climate-controlled space. Objects are also displayed in conjunction with thematic exhibitions in Philosophical Hall.

Gifts of tangible personal property are accepted in accordance with the collections policy of the Museum. Prospective donors should contact Mary Grace Wahl, Associate Director for Collections and Exhibitions, at [email protected]. 

In keeping with IRS regulations for gifts of tangible personal property, professional appraisals of gifts for tax purposes are the responsibility of donors.

Multiply the impact of your personal contribution to the American Philosophical Society.

Many employers offer matching gift programs and will match charitable contributions made by their employees. To find out if your company has a matching gift policy, please enter your employer’s name below. If your company matches, you may be able to access the forms directly through the search. Just follow the instructions.

Matching gifts—when combined with your donation—double or triple the resources available to the Library, Museum, and other programs.

NEH Challenge

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the American Philosophical Society a $500,000 challenge grant to create an endowment for the Library’s Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR). 

CNAIR will allow the Library to build on a quarter millennium of collecting Native American materials, and several years of unprecedented activity involving both collegial and digital partnerships with Native American communities. This permanent and dynamic division of the Library will focus on the pursuit and integration of scholarly, archival, and tribal interests, and in the process, inspire new scholarship and educational initiatives among both academic and Native communities. Three overarching programmatic goals encompass CNAIR’s potentially wide-ranging impact:

• Practicing and promoting Digital Knowledge Sharing as a catalyst for a new era in Native American and indigenous studies
• Establishing a consortium of sister repositories (including emerging tribal archives) and working collaboratively toward extensible models to serve scholars working in the fields of Native American studies, ethnohistory, linguistics, cultural anthropology, and ethnomusicology
• Encouraging a new generation of indigenous scholars to advance academic pursuits and cultural revitalization in tribal settings

To date, we have raised more than $1,454,000 of the $1,500,000 needed. 

For more information or to make a gift, please contact Linda Jacobs at 215-440-3434 or [email protected].

Endowment and Restricted Gifts

APS Online Diary Research Guide

The APS’s endowment, built up over more than two centuries with gifts from Members and Friends, has a history of sound management with steady long-term growth. Investment income from our restricted and unrestricted endowment funds plays a crucial part in our operations.  

If you have any questions or wish to establish an endowment fund, please contact Linda Jacobs at 215-440-3434 or [email protected]. 

Examples of naming opportunities include:  

• Library funds for the acquisition and processing of books and manuscripts
• Technology funds
• Library Resident Research Fellowships
• Research Grant funds in all fields for graduate students and postdoctoral level scholars
• Exhibitions
• Public outreach programs
• Meetings
• Principal staff positions

Endowed Research Grants

The APS is one of the preeminent organizations in the nation offering grants and fellowships on a competitive basis for scholarly research. The APS has a long and distinguished tradition of research and exploration, dating back to the founding era. Since 1933, the APS has provided grants and fellowships to more than 16,000 scholars—many of them younger scholars at critical stages in their careers. In the last decade alone, the APS has awarded some 1,500 research grants to early-career scholars at more than 600 colleges and universities.

Donors may endow and name a research grant for a minimum contribution of $50,000 in the programs listed below, or they may establish general endowments for research grants, allowing the APS to apply the funds as needed in programs such as those listed below. Donors will receive annual reports on the recipients of grants supported by the income from their respective endowed funds.

• Franklin Grants provide funds in any discipline for research that is often travel-related, usually to museums and libraries abroad. There are few, if any, comparable programs of this scale offering grants that are fully portable (i.e., not tied to a specific research center or discipline). These grants are generally awarded to postdoctoral scholars and typically support the cost of research leading to publication.
• Lewis and Clark Grants for Exploration and Field Research were established in 2004 in honor of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. (The APS cosponsored Lewis and Clark’s journey, and its Library is home to their journals.) The Lewis and Clark Grants support doctoral students from disciplines with a large dependence on field studies, such as archeology, anthropology, biology, ecology, geography, geology, linguistics, paleontology, and population genetics, but grants will not be restricted to these fields.
• Library Resident Research Fellowships provide support for short- and long-term fellowships for scholars from outside the region, enabling them to use the resources of the APS Library on site. Recipients come from all over the world. The Library is internationally recognized for its holdings in early American history and culture; the history of science, medicine, and technology; and Native American anthropology.

Please contact Linda Jacobs at 215-440-3434 or [email protected] for further details.

Meeting Patrons

The APS encourages contributions to the endowment of the Meetings, an APS tradition that reaches back to the year of its founding. Meeting Patrons are recognized on a prominent plaque in Benjamin Franklin Hall. Planned gifts (including intended bequests, if sufficiently documented) as well as outright gifts are accepted for this purpose.

The titles of the gift levels below pay tribute to the first eight members of the American Philosophical Society (not including the founder, for whom Benjamin Franklin Hall is named). These eight “Men of Speculation,” along with Franklin, embody the tradition of APS Meetings, which continue to bring together leading thinkers and doers of their times to share observations, experiments, and research. The descriptor following each name is the stated role of that individual in the operation of the APS, as established in its founding Proposal. Engaging profiles of these men are provided in Dr. Whitfield J. Bell Jr.’s Patriot Improvers, which comprises short biographies of APS Members between 1743 and 1768.

Meeting Patron Circles of Support

For more information or to make a gift, please contact Linda Jacobs at 215-440-3434 or [email protected].