Simon J. Simonian

Simon J. Simonian

Biography

Simon J. Simonian, M.D., Sc.D., D.Sc. (Hon.), FRCSE, FACS, FACPh is a world respected surgeon, scientist, educator, philanthropist, and writer. He received his university education and a Medical Research Council Award at Oxford University (BA’64, MA’69), received his medical education and a Suckling Research Prize at the University of London (MD’57), and was the first surgeon conferred the research degrees (ScM’67, ScD’69) in Nutrition, Immunology, and Genetics from Harvard University His academic appointments have included: Founding Chief of the Section of Immunology and Laboratory, Department of Surgery, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital at Harvard Medical School; Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Renal Transplantation at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia; Chair, Department of Surgery, St John Hospital Medical Center in Detroit; Clinical Professor of Surgery, Georgetown University Medical Center, and Founding President and CEO, the Vein Institute in Washington, DC.

Simon serves as a Member of the Religious Society of Friends at Santa Monica in Los Angeles; Visiting Professor in the Center for the Study of Religion at University of California, Los Angeles; a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Armenia, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He also serves as an honorary member of the International Forum of Phlebology in Germany and the Korean Society of Phlebology. He also served as Chief and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Medical Team Support for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in Detroit; President of the American Society of Lymphology; Founding Chair, the Section of Phlebological Surgery, American College of Phlebology; on the Editorial Boards of several national and international scientific/medical journals; and on the Founding Advisory Boards of Indiana Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine and The Leadership Council of Harvard School of Public Health. He also served on the Advisory Boards of the American Venous Forum Foundation, and St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University.

Simon's biographical citation is the longest entry in Marquis' Who's Who in the World, 2009.

Philanthropy

He has served in philanthropy in eleven universities in Armenia, the UK, and the USA. Simon J. Simonian Awards are conferred annually in “Leadership” at Oxford, in “Nutrition” at Harvard and Tufts, in “Pathology” at Harvard, and jointly with Joseph E. Murray, Nobel Laureate, in “Surgery” at Harvard. He is recognized as a leader in the establishment of Phlebology and Lymphology as new medical specialties, and co-established the first successful Venous Vascular Phlebology program at Georgetown University Hospital. He has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally. He is the co-author of over 300 articles and books that span his four major research interests: immunology, organ transplantation, venous vascular disease, and lymphatic vascular disease.

Contributions

Research contributions include:

1. Research assistance in the production of the first freeze-dried, heat-stable globally effective sheep-pox vaccine subsequently used by World Health Organization (WHO) for the eradication of smallpox in 1977, which is saving two million lives annually. This pioneer work of eradication of the first disease in history has been nominated for a Nobel Prize.
2. Co-discovery of the genetic control of antibody formation in the rat, which is helping RESOLVE chronic human diseases. Months earlier unknown to him a colleague using the guinea pig had obtained identical results. He was awarded a Nobel Prize.
3. Co-isolation of the IgG fraction of antilymphocyte serum which doubled the survival of human cadaveric renal allografts. His team leader, the pioneer of renal transplantation, Joseph E. Murray, MD was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1990.
4. Co-covalent linkage of a cytotoxic agent to a protein carrier for the specific targeting of cancer cells. He consulted with Charles Huggins, Nobel Laureate.

In retirement from medicine, Simon is launching a new career as a writer and an exemplar of peace. He is currently writing a book about creating and sustaining a world community of friends founded on universal principles of, truth, goodness, beauty, liberty, equality, justice, integrity, unity, love, sanity, nonviolence, spirituality, solutions, growth, evolution, peace, and joy.

See also

Publications

• Curtis Lon E. M.D., and Simon J. Simonian, SC.D., M.D, “Treatment of Hemorrhagic Gastritis by Antacid,” The Annals of Surgery Vol. 184, Issue 4 (October 1976).
• Kholoussy, Mohsen A., Teruo Matsumoto, and Simon Simonian, Manual of Vascular Access Procedures (East Norwalk, CT: Appleton and Lange, 1987). ISBN 0838561403
• Lee, B.B., Simon J. Simonian, Benoit Blondeau, and Lawrence L. Tretbar, Lymphedema: Diagnosis and Treatment (New York: Springer, 2007). ISBN 1846285488

Additional references

• http://www.regen.iupui.edu/boards_scientific.asp#ssimonian
• http://www.brighamandwomens.org/publicaffairs/publications/DisplayMSN.aspx?articleid=1688&issueDate=7/1/2008%2012:00:00%20AM
• http://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery/Abstract/1976/10000/Treatment_of_Hemorrhagic_Gastritis_by_Antacid.5.aspx
• http://www.tufts.edu/development/news/2007/gershoffprize.html
• http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/95/2/184