The Phillip J Bowen Award is given to a person who exemplifies extraordinary service to their community and to helping others. Big House Big Heart was started by Mike Highfield to honor his law partner Phil Bowen, from the law firm, Conlin, Mckenney and Philbrick. Phil passed away 2 weeks before the first BHBH, stricken with ALS. BHBH began as an event to raise awareness about ALS and to raise money for ALS research at the University of Michigan. It has grown into a fundraiser also for CS Mott Hospital and UM Cardiovascular Center plus hundreds of area non profits, many of which Phil Bowen served during his life in Ann Arbor.

The 2011 Philip J. Bowen Award winner is Eva L. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D.

Throughout her career, Dr. Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., the Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology at the University of Michigan, has made it her mission to use scientific discoveries to understand and cure human diseases.  She is the research director of the ALS Clinic at U-M, regularly treating patients with this deadly disease. She uses what she has learned in the clinic to inform her laboratory research, which seeks to understand the disease and discover new treatments for it. A pioneer in the therapeutic application of stem cells, she is currently conducting the first FDA-approved human clinical trial of a stem cell treatment for ALS, which involves the implantation of stem cells directly into the spinal cord of ALS patients.

Dr. Feldman is the director of the Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, a team of 30 scientists who collaborate to understand and find new treatments for a wide variety of neurological diseases, including ALS, diabetic neuropathy, Alzheimer’s disease, and muscular dystrophies.

In January 2008, Dr. Feldman was named the director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute, which was created to support fundamental research into a wide range of human diseases.  Under her leadership, the Taubman Institute funds senior-level scientists in the study of a diverse spectrum of diseases – ALS, adult and childhood cancers, diabetes, obesity, retinopathy, stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Feldman is the author of more than 220 articles, fifty book chapters and two books. She is the Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator of five major National Institutes of Health research grants, eight private foundation grants and five clinical trials. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and President of the American Neurological Association.  She has received many honors including the Early Distinguished Career Award from the University of Michigan.  Additionally, she has been listed in Best Doctors in America for 10 consecutive years.

Among Dr. Feldman’s greatest accomplishments is her training of both scientists and neurologists.  Eight scientists have received their Ph.D. degrees under her, she has trained 40 postdoctoral fellows in her laboratory to become neuroscientists, and 36 neurologists have trained under her to specialize in the understanding and treatment of neuromuscular diseases, with an emphasis on ALS.

Dr. Eva Feldman, Director of the Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, has received another honor recognizing her contribution to the world of medical science.
 
She will become president of the American Neurological Association on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at the organization’s 136th annual conference in San Diego, Calif.
 
Dr. Feldman will serve a two-year term as head of the 1,800-member ANA, which was established in 1874 by a group of physicians aiming to promote training and research in the field.
 
“It’s a great honor to lead a distinguished group of neurologists who share my mission of furthering the research and education that will enable us to find groundbreaking therapies and cures for diseases of the nervous system,” said Dr. Feldman.
 
She previously has served as a vice president for the ANA, and she is recent past president of the Peripheral Nerve Society.
 
At the conference, Eva will be offering a presentation on the progress she has made in developing a stem cell treatment for ALS, which is currently undergoing human clinical trials.
 
For more information on the Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, please visit www.pnrd.umich.edu.