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Virginia Commonwealth University has announced seven recipients—including two physician-scientists with VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center—of the annual Distinguished Faculty Awards, which recognize achievement in teaching, scholarship, service and overall excellence. 

“This year’s Distinguished Faculty Award winners have not just distinguished themselves in teaching, scholarship and service — they have shown what excellence means at a major research university,” said Arturo P. Saavedra, M.D., Ph.D., VCU executive vice president and provost. “Through their mentorship and innovation, our faculty winners continue to inspire the next generation of leaders and scholars across our campus.”

The honorees will be recognized at the VCU Faculty Recognition Gala on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Jefferson Hotel.

Here are this year’s recipients of VCU’s Distinguished Faculty Awards.

University Award of Excellence

Richard Sterling, M.D., member of the Developmental Therapeutics research program at Massey

As associate chair for research for the Department of Internal Medicine and chief of hepatology at the VCU School of Medicine, Richard Sterling has helped transform how clinicians worldwide assess liver fibrosis. This disease, a buildup of scar tissue after repeated or long-term injury, affects more than 1 in 9 U.S. adults. Many Americans don’t know they have liver fibrosis, as it can progress silently for years, or even decades, with few symptoms. Advanced liver fibrosis is a significant risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer.

Sterling led the groundbreaking development of the Fibrosis-4 Index, a formula used to help estimate the probability of advanced liver fibrosis. FIB-4 can be calculated from information found in routine blood tests. Prior to the formula, a liver biopsy, which is invasive and potentially risky, was required to identify patients likely to have advanced fibrosis.   

While FIB-4 was originally developed for patients with HIV or hepatitis infections, the formula is now one of the most widely used and inexpensive tools to assess many other liver diseases. Millions of patients have benefited from FIB-4, and it is considered one of the most important advances in non-invasive liver disease assessment.

Through his leadership, Sterling has helped build the Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health into an integrated center for advancing research, education and clinical care for liver and metabolic disease. Alongside his colleagues, he has helped grow VCU’s hepatology program into one of the leading liver centers in the United States, with the VCU Liver Transplant Program performing approximately 200 transplants each year.

“Over more than three decades at VCU, Dr. Sterling has established himself as an internationally respected physician-scientist, visionary academic leader and transformational educator whose work has advanced the university’s mission and significantly improved the lives of patients worldwide,” said Stephen L. Kates, M.D., interim dean of the School of Medicine and VCU Health System interim executive vice president for medical affairs.

University Outstanding Term Faculty Award

Mary Helen Hackney, M.D., director of community oncology at Massey

Mary Helen Hackney, throughout her time at VCU, has made a commitment to educating future physicians, advancing cancer care and improving health equity across Virginia. She has served as a faculty model for teaching, scholarship, clinical research and service to her patients.

Hackney has emphasized improving cancer care to underserved communities through her role as director of the Rural Cancer Outreach Program at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center. In this role, she developed and sustained a statewide network that brought oncology services, including chemotherapy, screening, survivorship care and palliative services, to rural populations across Virginia.

Hackney has also defined herself through her work in the classroom, crafting a teaching philosophy that emphasizes compassionate communication, patient-centered care and critical thinking – skills essential to the physicians of tomorrow.

“Dr. Hackney’s work bridges the missions of academic medicine — teaching, discovery and service – and demonstrates how a term faculty member can have profound and lasting influence on students, colleagues, patients and the broader community,” Kates said.

The additional recipients of this year’s VCU Distinguished Faculty Awards include:

• University Distinguished Scholarship Award — Hermine H. Maes, Ph.D., School of Medicine
• University Distinguished Service Award — Edmund Acevedo, Ph.D., College of Humanities and Sciences
• University Distinguished Teaching Award — Sarah Jane Brubaker, Ph.D., L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
• University Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award — Chi-Ning Chang, Ph.D., School of Education
• University Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award — Joshua P. Cole, Ph.D., School of Education

This was repurposed from an article originally published by VCU News.