====================== JeffNEWS, June 1, 1995 ====================== Distinguished Newscaster, Three Internationally Renowned Scientists to Receive Honorary Degrees At Commencement ------------------------------------------------------------------- An esteemed national television and radio newscaster and three renowned scientists - from Switzerland, France and Thailand - will receive honorary doctor of science degrees at Jefferson's 171st Annual Commencement at 10:30 a.m., Friday, June 9, at the Academy of Music. The degree recipients are: Cokie Roberts, ABC News special correspondent and a National Public Radio (NPR) news analyst; immunologist Fritz G. F. Melchers, PhD, of Switzerland, vaccine developer and producer Charles Merieux, MD, of France, and public health educator Debhanom Muangman, MD, DPH, of Thailand. During commencement exercises, University president, Paul C. Brucker, MD, will confer Doctor of Medicine degrees on 209 Jefferson Medical College (JMC) students. Dr. Brucker will also confer 22 Doctor of Philosophy degrees and 40 Master of Science degrees on students of the College of Graduate Studies (CGS). In addition, 47 candidates for the Master of Science degree in physical therapy, who will complete their degree requirements on August 25, 1995, will be recognized at this commencement. Cokie Roberts ------------- Sunday mornings find many Americans watching Ms. Roberts join in the weekly roundtable discussion on ABC's "This Week With David Brinkley." She also substitutes frequently as an anchor for the network's "Nightline" program. As an NPR Congressional correspondent, she won numerous awards, including public radio's highest, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and was the first broadcast journalist to win the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for coverage of Congress. Before joining ABC in 1988, Ms. Roberts was a contributor to Public Television's MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, where her coverage of the Iran/Contra affair won her the 1987 Weintal Award. Fritz G. F. Melchers, PhD ------------------------- Professor Melchers, one of the world's leading immunologists, directs the Basel Institute for Immunology, a major immunological disease research center. He has achieved international recognition for his studies on the formation and function of B-cell lymphocytes, which produce the antibodies that are one of the body's principal defenses against disease. His discoveries, which have important implications for understanding autoimmune diseases and cancer, include genetic control of B-cell development, (including the study of three genes expressed only in pre-B stem cells), which led to experiments that showed the cells' suitability as gene therapy targets. Professor Melchers was on the faculty of the Wistar Institute from 1980 until 1991 and has been a member of the Jefferson Cancer Institute since 1992. He also serves on the natural sciences faculty of the University of Basel, Switzerland. Charles Merieux, MD ------------------- Dr. Merieux is the founder and retired president of Institut Merieux, the world's largest vaccine producer. He pioneered the creation of several new vaccines, including one for hoof and mouth disease, and is widely honored for his success in mobilizing governmental and industrial groups to ensure the delivery of these vaccines whenever the need arose. In 1937, his last year of medical school, he assumed responsibility for a laboratory begun by his father, a collaborator of Louis Pasteur's. A decade later, he founded the French Institute of Hoof and Mouth Disease, which facilitated the preparation of new vaccines against polio and led to the development of vaccines against German measles and rabies in 1965. Dr. Merieux established the Marcel Merieux Foundation in 1967 to help undertake modern biological research and development, as well as develop international initiatives in preventive medicine. Debhanom Muangman, MD, DPH, JMC '62 ----------------------------------- Since his return to Thailand after graduating from Jefferson Medical College, Dr. Muangman has become one of the leaders in public health in the Asia Pacific region. He is the dean of the School of Environmental and Resource Studies at Mahidol University in Bangkok, where he is conducting extensive environmental research addressing issues such as the misuse of agricultural chemicals and increased air pollution. Before that, Dr. Muangman was dean of the Mahidol's School of Public Health for 16 years, during which the school became the largest public health school in Asia. Dr. Muangman has mobilized educational and governmental forces to combat the spread of AIDS, deliver primary care to urban and rural poor and improve health conditions in refugee camps. He has been an advisor to many organizations, including the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the World Bank. He was also chairman of the Health and Environmental Committee of Thailand and president and a founder of the Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH). The consortium today includes 31 universities throughout the Asia Pacific Region. R. Anthony Carabasi III, MD - Grand Marshal -------------------------------------------- R. Anthony Carabasi III, MD, professor of surgery and of radiology and director of the division of vascular surgery, JMC, is the Grand Marshal for the JMC/CGS Commencement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Information provided by: Editor, JeffNEWS (215) 955-6204 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------