John Lachin to Receive 2024 Tulane Science and Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award for Professional Excellence

John Lachin has been selected by the Tulane School of Science and Engineering (SSE) Board of Advisors Alumni Awards Committee and SSE Dean Kimberly Foster, to receive the 2024 Tulane Science and Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award for Professional Excellence. John came to the Biostatistics Center as an Assistant Research Professor in 1973, and over his career has become one of the most impactful researchers in the history of diabetes research and at GW.  His contributions include unmatched research funding which has created opportunities for many faculty and staff, the enormous public health impact of his research, teaching and mentorship of generations of biostatisticians, and the enhanced reputation of the Center and GW. John’s early projects formed the backbone on which the Center was built and laid the foundation for the many subsequent diabetes and other coordinating center projects awarded to the Center.

John served as the Center’s Assistant Director, Co-Director, Director (1988-2000), and Interim Director (2010-2012).  He has been the Principal Investigator or Co-PI of several of the most impactful clinical research studies in diabetes treatment and prevention. These include: PI of the Coordinating Center for the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT: 1982-1998), PI of the Coordinating Center for the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) Study (1996-2020), PI of the Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Diabetes: A Comparative Effectiveness (GRADE) Study Coordinating Center (2010-current), and a co‐investigator and/or co‐PI for the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP; 1994-2003, Co‐PI 1994‐96 and 1999‐2002) and the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS). He also directed the biostatistical coordinating centers for the T1D Trial Network (2001‐2008), the Study of Plasmapheresis in Severe Lupus Nephritis (1981‐1988), and the National Cooperative Gallstone Study (1980‐1984), among others.

The DCCT/EDIC is in its 40th year of combined study and is the longest continuous study of type 1 diabetes. This landmark study set a worldwide standard for Type 1 diabetes care. The report of the major results in 1993 in the New England Journal of Medicine has been cited more than 23,000 times and remains the most highly cited paper in the diabetes literature. John has published 397 peer-refereed papers and five books, and has over 96,000 citations. He has been the PI or co-PI of grants totaling more than $471 million since 1985. David Nathan, Director, Diabetes Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, said “Large clinical trials, and especially multi-centered studies, and epidemiologic studies are often carried out by teams of investigators who share the work and the credit. However, I can think of no other individual who has contributed as much to scientific inquiry in diabetes as John Lachin.”

Griffin Rodgers, Director of the NIH- National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases said: "The Center has helped coordinate and analyze the results of some of the most consequential studies the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has funded, leading to widespread improvements in prevention, treatment and outcomes for people with diabetes and many other conditions in NIDDK’s mission. Their contributions and leadership have been invaluable.”

Congratulations to John on this well-deserved recognition from his alma mater.