Victor Joseph Dzau (; born 23 October 1945) is a Chinese-American doctor and academic. He serves as the President of the United States

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Eng ...

(formerly the ''Institute of Medicine'') of the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. He was previously the president and CEO of

Duke University Medical Center Duke University Hospital is a 957-acute care bed academic tertiary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina. Established in 1930, it is the flagship teaching hospital for the Duke University Health System, a network of physicians and hos ...

Biography

Dzau was born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, Republic of China. His father owned a chemical manufacturing company. He and his family fled to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

to escape from the civil war of China. He received both his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...

from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. A leading cardiovascular scholar, Dzau was the Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and served as Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School's Brigham and Women's Hospital, as well as Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. He then became the Chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke University and President and CEO of the

. Dzau is currently the James B. Duke Professor of

Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

at Duke University. In July 2014, he was elected for a six-year term (renewable) as President of the then Institute of Medicine (now the

). He is a member of the

, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the

European Academy of Sciences and Arts The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 37 Nobel Prize laur ...

. He was the previous Chairman of the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(

NIH The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

) Cardiovascular Disease Advisory Committee, and he served on the Advisory Committee to the Director of

. Dzau has made a significant impact on medicine through seminal research in cardiovascular medicine and genetics, his pioneering work in the discipline of vascular medicine, and his leadership in health care innovation. His seminal research laid the foundation for the development of angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, which are used globally for the treatment of high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. He pioneered gene therapy for vascular disease, being the first to introduce DNA decoy molecules to block transcriptions as gene therapy in humans. Dzau's wife, Ruth, is the president of ''The Second Step'', a nonprofit charitable organization that provides housing and transnational programs for domestic violence victims. They have two daughters, Jacqueline and Merissa. Dzau is on the honor roll of the Jewish Federation of Durham Chapel Hill and has been a speaker at the Federation's ''Ignite'' talks.

Honors and awards

* Eight honorary doctorate degrees. * 2004 Named Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association * 2004

Max Delbrück Medal The Max Delbrück Medal has been awarded annually from 1992 to 2013 by the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (German: ''Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin'' or MDC). Named after the German biophysicist Max Delbrück, it is pr ...

, Berlin, Germany * 2005

Ellis Island Medal of Honor The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born ...

* 2012 Henry Freisen International Prize * 2014 Singapore Public Service Medal * 2019 Foreign member of the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...

*2019 Honorary Citizen Award (Singapore)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dzau, Victor Living people 1945 births McGill University Faculty of Medicine alumni Alumni of King's College London Duke University faculty Harvard Medical School faculty Hong Kong scientists Hong Kong Jews Chinese Civil War refugees Chinese Jews Jewish American scientists Stanford University School of Medicine faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Educators from Shanghai People of Chinese-Jewish descent Recipients of the Pingat Bakti Masyarakat Scientists from Shanghai Chinese emigrants to the United States Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Honorary Citizens of Singapore McGill University Faculty of Science alumni American health care chief executives 21st-century American Jews Members of the National Academy of Medicine