News Release
November 2001
(Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)-- In recognition of his distinguished
contributions to cancer research, the Moravian College Alumni Association
recently presented the 2001 Comenius Award to Frank J. Rauscher, III.
The award was presented at the college's annual Comenius Dinner.
The award honors a Moravian College graduate for outstanding
achievement or services in the graduate's field of work. Given annually
since 1941, the award is named for 17th century Moravian bishop John
Amos Comenius, considered the father of modern education.
After graduating from Moravian in 1979, Dr. Rauscher spent
two years as a research assistant at Yale University's School of Medicine
and then earned a Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology from the Roswell Park
Cancer Institute, State University of New York at Buffalo. During his
postdoctoral fellowship at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology,
he discovered the molecular basis for osteosarcoma in a mouse model.
In 1990, he joined the Wistar Institute where he is currently professor
and chairman of the molecular genetics program. In addition, he is both
principal investigator and Deputy Director of the Wistar Institute Cancer
Center. During his tenure there he has discovered several tumor suppressor
genes which control the development of cancers in the kidney, lung and
breast.
Dr. Rauscher has been widely recognized for his work and
was named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences (1991-1995). He also
received the Wilson S. Stone Memorial Award in 1991. In 1995, the Susan
G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation presented him with the William L.
McGuire, M.D. Memorial Fellowship. He is a member of the American Association
for the Moravian College honors Frank J. Rauscher, III with Comenius
Award Advancement of Science, the International Association for Comparative
Research of Leukemia and Related Diseases, the New York Academy of Sciences,
the American Society of Nephrology, and the International Council of
the Israeli Cancer Research Foundation.
Since becoming a member of the American Association of
Cancer Research in 1990, Dr. Rauscher has served in numerous capacities,
including his current position as a member of the Board of Directors.
He also is the Editor-in-Chief for its flagship journal, Cancer Research
and is on the Editorial Board of the AACR publication Cell Growth &
Differentiation.
Dr. Rauscher's early interest in science developed through
his close association with another outstanding Moravian College alumnus,
Dr. Frank Rauscher Jr. '53. Frank Rauscher Jr. set the example of excellence
for his son and received the Comenius Award in 1963. Dr. Rauscher resides
in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Melissa A. Ludwig '80, and
their two children, Griffin and Frank IV.
Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective
liberal arts college located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its
founding to 1742, it is recognized as America's sixth-oldest college.
Visit the website at www.moravian.edu.
