Mary McGrae McDermott, MD, professor of medicine, has been selected to receive the designation Master of the Society of Vascular Medicine (SVM), the highest award bestowed by the organization. The society confers the annual award on up to three individuals for their outstanding contributions to the field. McDermott was presented with the award at the national SVM meeting this past weekend.
“I have devoted much of my career thus far to research designed to improve clinically meaningful outcomes for patients with peripheral vascular diseases,” said McDermott. “It is an honor to have my work and effort recognized by my colleagues across the nation. My goal as a clinician-scientist is to improve the health and quality of life of patients with vascular disease. This recognition suggests that perhaps I have made a small difference in this important work.”
McDermott’s research focuses on lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and she is currently the principal investigator of five ongoing R01 awards from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), as well as principal investigator and program director of the medical school’s NHLBI-funded K12 training program in vascular medicine. She is also principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health-funded LIFE study, a clinical trial that seeks to establish whether physical activity prevents mobility loss in older men and women.
McDermott received her medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and completed her internal medicine residency and fellowship training at Northwestern. She is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and a recipient of both the Society of General Internal Medicine’s Junior Investigator of the Year Award and the American Heart Association’s Established Investigator Award. In 2009, McDermott received the National PAD Coalition’s Research of the Year Award. She is a contributing editor for the Journal of the American Medical Association, chair of the Peripheral Vascular Disease Council for the American Heart Association, and a medical editor for the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making.