The American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Distinguished Career Award goes to Jeanne Lusher, M.D.

Laurence A. Boxer, MD, this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Career Award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, is a leader in pediatric hematology/ oncology with a long career marked by accomplishment and leadership in research, training, and patient care, as well as exceptional service to ASPHO and other scientific societies. Larry was born in Denver in 1940 to Sam and Tillie Boxer, the eldest of their three boys. Sam and Tillie ran a mom and pop plumbing operation, Belmont Plumbing, starting when Denver was a relatively small town. Larry attended East High School in Denver. His brother Mike recalls, ‘‘The time was the ’50s and the school was right out of ‘American Graffiti.’ Larry was on student council and very popular in school. He was accepted to attend Yale University, but took a scholarship he was awarded to the University of Colorado,’’ graduating in 1961, magna cum laude in history. Larry made many life long friends at Colorado and the Phi Sigma Delta fraternity. His brother Mike writes, ‘‘Many of his fraternity brothers still talk about how he kept kosher while living in the fraternity house. It was widely believed that Larry was going to be a Rabbi.’’ His father preferred that he enter the family business, but told Larry ‘‘if you cannot become a plumber, you can always become a doctor.’’ Larry chose the latter and attended Stanford Medical School. Earlier this year, he was honored as the J. Wallace Sterling Outstanding Medical Alumnus of Stanford University. After receiving his M.D. from Stanford University in 1966, he trained as a resident in pediatrics at Yale University from 1966 to 1968. There he met his wife, Grace, now a medical hematologist with whom he has collaborated on several research studies and publications. Their son David, born in 1976, is a teacher, information technologist, and social activist. He returned to Stanford as a senior resident, from 1969 to 1972 and served his Vietnam-era military duty as a pediatrician at the Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu, an experience that he fondly recalls to have sparked a lifelong affinity for the Hawaiian Islands. From 1972 to 1975 he was a fellow and then an instructor in hematology at Children’s Hospital Boston, and Harvard Medical School. In 1975, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine and became a Professor of Pediatrics in 1982. That same year he moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where he assumed the position of Professor and Director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the University of Michigan, where he has also served as Associate Chair for Research and subsequently for Faculty Affairs. In 2003 he was named to the Henry and Mala Dorfman Family Chair in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, a Professorship established in part to recognize the extraordinary care provided by Larry to two of the Dorfman children. Larry has just retired as director of the pediatric hematology/oncology division, but will continue his considerable efforts in research, teaching, and patient care. Larry has received national and international recognition for his success as a physician-scientist, clinician, and teacher. He has served as a councilor of the Society for Pediatric Research (1982– 1985), the American Society of Hematology (1988–1992) and the American Pediatric Society (2001–2006), and was elected president of the Society for Pediatric Research (1985–1986). His research accomplishments have been recognized with the Pediatric Academic Societies’ highest recognition for research, the Mead Johnson Award (1983). In 1997, Larry was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in 1998, he received the Founder’s Award from the Midwest Society for Pediatric Research. Larry has also been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians, and serves as a founding section editor for HEM/ONC