Linda Giudice honoured as distinguished researcher
9 NOVEMBER 2008
The ASRM 2008 Distinguished Researcher Award has been presented to Professor Linda Giudice, who has devoted decades of her career to the study of endometriosis.
- Professor Linda Giudice, University of California San Francisco
The American Society of Reproductive Medicine honoured Linda Giudice MD, PhD, MSc, at its 64th annual meeting with its Distinguished Researcher Award. Professor Giudice, the Robert B Jaffe Endowed Professor and Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, is the fourth recipient of the award.
Professor Linda Giudice, has spent much of the last two decades studying the human endometrium, including normal and abnormal aspects of endometrial development and the relevance of that development to miscarriage, implantation disorders, foetal growth, and endometriosis.
She is a biochemist, gynaecologist, and reproductive endocrinologist specialising in endometriosis, infertility, assisted reproduction, implantation, and ovulatory disorders. She also has an interest in reproductive infectious diseases.
“I am deeply honoured to be the recipient of this award, and to be honoured by the reproductive medicine community. This award occours at an auspicious time in science and medicine, especially with translational research, and receiving this is very special”
said Professor Giudice.
Not only does the award acknowledge Professor Giudice’s contributions, it also acknowledges the efforts of numerous colleagues and trainees who have been part of her research team and its accomplishments, she said.
Some of her recent research has focused on environmental effects of reproductive health and has fostered research in the area of effects of environmental toxins on reproductive tissue – a topic covered at the 64th Annual Meeting of the ASRM. She has also investigated human embryonic stem cell differentiation to the trophectoderm, endometrium as a mucosal tissue, placental-uterine interactions, and function genomics of human reproductive tissues. Her research has led to greater understanding of the role of steroid hormones, particularly progesterone, in infertility and the development of endometriosis. Her functional genomic studies in the endometrium of women with endometriosis have paved the way for improved diagnostics and biomarkers for endometriosis and new avenues for targeted therapeutics for endometriosis-related infertility, and they could lead to the development of more effective therapies for endometriosis-related pelvic pain.
“As a classic physican-scientist, whose long career of very productive research has advanced the field of reproductive medicine and biology, Professor Giudice is a very deserving recipient of the Distinguished Researcher Award. She is unusual in that she does both basic and clinical research. She has made significant contributions to the understanding of signal transduction in ovarian and uterine cells”
said Andrew La Barbera PhD HCLD, ASRM’s Scientific Director, citing her three decades of productive research and her ongoing success in advancing understanding of signal transduction and communication among cells within reproductive tissues as the basis for her selection as the recipient of this prestigius award, which was designed to recognise meritorious research within the previous decade.
Professor Giudice is the vice president of the World Endometriosis Society (2008-2011) and the vice president of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation (2006-2012).
Recently published works by Professor Giudice
Molecular phenotyping of human endometrium distinguishes menstrual cycle phases and underlying biological processes in normo-ovulatory women (Endocrinology 2006;147:1097-1121)
Gene expression analysis of endometrium reveals progesterone resistance and candidate susceptability genes in women with endometriosis (Endocrinology 2007;148:3814-26)
