After nine years as a member of the George Washington University Board of Trustees, Gerald Lazarus, M.D. ’63, is stepping down, but the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) won’t let him get away quietly. During this year’s SMHS M.D. Program graduation ceremony Jeffrey S. Akman, M.D. ’81, RESD ’85, Walter A. Bloedorn Professor of Administrative Medicine, vice president for health affairs, and dean of SMHS, will take a moment to recognize Lazarus for his years of service to the school and the university. In addition to his service as a member of the board of trustees, Lazarus is a member of the SMHS Dean’s Council and the GW Alumni Association’s General Advisory Board, and he has served two stints on the SMHS Advisory Board, first from 2004 to 2008 and again from 2010 to present. Lazarus and his wife Audrey F. Jakubowski Lazarus, Ph.D., established the Lazarus Scholars in Health Care Delivery to support SMHS M.D. students as they pursue interests such as health care delivery systems, international health, and health care in the developing world.
Recently, Lazarus was selected by the American Skin Association to receive the 2014 David Martin Carter Mentor Award. The award was given for his ongoing contributions to the field and to American medicine. He also published a review on wound care treatments. Following a systematic review of 60 research papers on the treatment of skin ulcers, the study — funded through a $475,000 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality — determined that most were so technically flawed that their results were unreliable.
