Professor Victor Dzau FMedSci

It is my pleasure to present Professor Victor Dzau for admission as an Honorary Fellow of the Academy. Today, I ask that he be commended for not only his seminal work in cardiovascular medicine but also his innovative and transformative leadership across the healthcare sector.

Born in Shanghai in 1945 to a father who taught science and owned a chemical manufacturing business, his family arrived as refugees in Hong Kong when Dzau was 5 years old. Growing up in a single room, in a country riven by post-war hardship and health inequalities, kindled in him not only the desire for a medical career, but an extraordinary capacity to adapt to new challenges.

The first of these challenges came aged 18. With the support of his family, he moved from Hong Kong to Canada to pursue a biology major and medical degree at McGill University. Adapting rapidly to the new culture, a medical residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital was rapidly followed by a cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University. An early leader, he became Chair of the Stanford University Department of Medicine in 1990, returning to lead Harvard’s Department of Medicine in 1995.

At the same time, Professor Dzau’s research on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, a biochemical mechanism implicated in hypertension and congestive heart failure, was also propelling him into the spotlight. As a young researcher, he purified renin from pulped kidneys, tested the first angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in patients, and helped to pioneer the concept of the tissue angiotensin system – the idea that the hormone angiotensin’s effects arise not just from angiotensin circulating in the blood, but from angiotensin being produced from within the tissues of the heart, blood vessels and kidneys themselves. ACE inhibitors are today used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure in over 40 million people worldwide.

In 2004, Professor Dzau was appointed Chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke University and President and CEO of the Duke University Health System. At Duke, he oversaw a transformation in health sciences integration, initiating real-time data sharing across its medical schools, nursing training, biomedical research, patient clinics and community services. As one of the world’s foremost academic health leaders, Dzau has inspired others - eventually going on to advise governments and universities worldwide – including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Singapore and the UK, among others – on how to adapt to the challenges of the digital age, connecting their healthcare systems to provide seamless research, training and healthcare delivery.

In 2014 Professor Dzau was elected to a six-year Presidency of the US Institute of Medicine, becoming the first President of the US National Academy of Medicine when the organisation changed status shortly after. Since his election, he has spearheaded the Academy towards new ambitions, leading initiatives including the Global Health Risk Framework for the Future, the Human Gene Editing Initiative, Vital Directions for Health and Healthcare, and Grand Challenges in Health and Medicine.

Alongside his career as an international healthcare leader and role as Academy President, Professor Dzau remains committed to maintaining his own laboratory research. He remains James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pathology at Duke University, pioneering gene therapy for vascular disease, and was the first to introduce DNA decoy molecules to block the production of DNA in living cells. I’m sure one or two members of the audience will be reassured to hear that even the President of the US National Academy of Medicine still handles his own grant applications – and even grant rejections!

Professor Dzau’s outstanding career has gathered many honours including the inaugural Hatter Award from the Medical Research Council of South Africa; the Gustav Nylin Medal from the Swedish Royal College of Medicine; the Max Delbruck Medal from Humboldt University, Charité, and the Max Planck Institute; the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association; the Ellis Island Medal of Honor; the Poulzer Prize from the European Academy of Sciences and Arts; a Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association (AHA); and an AHA Research Achievement Award for his contributions to cardiovascular biology and medicine. Professor Dzau has also been elected to both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, among his many other recognitions. It is our pleasure and honour to add one more to this collection tonight.

In addition to all of these achievements, Professor Dzau has been very generous to the UK devoting time to participating in several panels adjudicating over Biomedical Research Centre awards, Academic Health Science Centre designations and British Heart Foundation Centres of Excellence. All of this underpins what we hope will be the development of a close relationship between the National Academy of Medicine and the UK’s Academy of Medical Science.