Pollin Pediatric Research Prize awarded for discovery of lifesaving treatment of RDS

The Pollin family, prominent philanthropists, is perhaps best known as the co-owners of the Washington Wizards basketball team. A psychiatric social worker and lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard University, Irene Pollin created Medical Crisis Counseling in 1980, which treats patients and families coping with chronic illness. She has written several books and articles on crisis counseling and the emotional management of long-term illness. As president and founder of the Linda and Kenneth Pollin Foundation, she serves on a number of national advisory boards and commissions in the fields of mental health and women's health, and is founder and chairperson of the Sister To Sister: Everyone Has A Heart Foundation, an organization whose aim is to increase women's awareness of heart disease and provide free cardiac screenings.

Previous Pollin Prize recipients include, in 2002, Drs. Norbert Hirschorn, Dilip Mahalanabis, David R. Nalin and Nathaniel F. Pierce for developing oral rehydration therapy; in 2003, Drs. Emil Frei II, Emil J Freireich, James F. Holland and Donald Pinkel for developing of treatments for childhood leukemia; in 2004, Dr. Alfred Sommer for discoveries leading to the widespread use of inexpensive vitamin A supplements; in 2005, Drs. Eric N. Olson and Abraham M. Rudolph for advancing the understanding of congenital heart malformations; and, in 2007, Dr. Samuel L. Katz for contributions to the development of the measles vaccine.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, based in New York City, is the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital, with 2,242 beds. The Hospital has nearly a million patient visits in a year, including more than 220,000 visits to its emergency departments -- more than any other area hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine at five major centers: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Allen Pavilion and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division. One of the largest and most comprehensive health-care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. It ranks sixth in U.S.News & World Report's guide to"America's Best Hospitals," ranks first on New York magazine's"Best Hospitals" survey, has the greatest number of physicians listed in New York magazine's"Best Doctors" issue, and is included among Solucient's top 15 major teaching hospitals. The Hospital is ranked with among the lowest mortality rates for heart attack and heart failure in the country, according to a 2007 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) report card. The Hospital has academic affiliations with two of the nation's leading medical colleges: Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. For more information, visit www.nyp.org.