Two SIU School of Medicine faculty have recently received national honors -

Dr. Elvin G. Zook, professor and chair of the plastic surgery division, has been chosen as the Clinician of the Year by the American Association of Plastic Surgeons (AAPS) at their recent annual meeting held in Chicago. An organization of board certified plastic surgeons, the association awards the honor to recognize significant clinical achievement. In making the award, Dr. Kenna S. Given, AAPS president and professor emeritus at the Medical College of Georgia, said "This is a very prestigious award and well deserved by Dr. Zook."

Zook joined SIU's faculty in 1973. He earned his bachelor's degree at Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana (1959) and medical degree at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis (1963). He completed his residency in general, thoracic and plastic surgery at Indiana University Medical Center (1973). Zook also completed fellowships in plastic surgery as the James Whitcomb Riley Plastic Surgery Fellow (1966) and in hand surgery at the University of Louisville (1970). He is board certified in plastic surgery and thoracic surgery. Zook is a past president of the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS).

Andrzej Bartke, Ph.D., professor of medicine and physiology, became president of the American Aging Association at its 33rd annual meeting in June in St. Petersburg, Fla. The national organization promotes biomedical aging studies directed towards increasing the functional life span of humans with one goal being to slow the aging process.

Bartke joined the SIU faculty in 1984. He earned his magister degree from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland (1962) and received his doctorate in zoology genetics from the University of Kansas in Lawrence (1995). Bartke has received numerous awards including the inaugural Methuselah Prize for his contributions to life extension research resulting in the longest lived mouse (2003) as well as the Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Scientist Award (1997), the Carl G. Hartman Award of the Society for the Study of Reproduction (1995) and the American Society of Andrology's Distinguished Service Award (1995).

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