Contact: Ellen Bank
843.792.2626
April 29, 2004
CHARLESTON -- Some 713 students are expected to receive degrees from MUSC’s
six colleges at the university’s 175th commencement ceremony scheduled
for 9 a.m. May 21 on the university’s horseshoe.
Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D., an international pioneer in biomedical research,
will deliver the commencement address and be presented a Doctor of Science,
honoris causa.
Others to receive honorary degrees are:
• Reverend Doctor Jimmy S. Gallant III, a Charleston City Councilman and
senior chaplain with the Charleston Police Department, Doctor of Humane Letters;
• J. Yancey McGill, a state senator from Kingstree, Doctor of Humane Letters;
• Vincent T. Peng, M.D., an Atlanta dermatologist and graduate of both
the colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine, Doctor of Medical Science, honoris causa;
• Joseph P. Riley Jr., mayor of Charleston, Doctor of Humane Letters;
• W. Douglas “Doug” Smith, a Spartanburg attorney and speaker
pro tempore of the SC House of Representatives, Doctor of Humane Letters; and
• Theodore S. Stern, former College of Charleston president, Doctor of
Humane Letters
Lefkowitz is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the
James B. Duke Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. He has
won every prestigious award that can be bestowed upon a scientist, short of
the Nobel Prize. His research has led to the development of numerous drugs,
including those used to treat hypertension, heart disease and psychiatric disorders.
Author of more than 700 papers in prestigious scientific journals, Lefkowitz
has served as president of the country’s prestigious learned societies
such as the Association of American Physicians. He is a member of the National
Academy of Science and the Institute of Medicine.
He has trained a cadre of scientists who have gone on to become outstanding scientists and leaders in academic medicine. His former trainees have become provosts, deans, chairs and CEOs of pharmaceutical companies.
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