The 2019 ACR Award Winners & Distinguished Fellows

Distinguished Clinician Scholar Award

J. Timothy Harrington, MD, retired professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, received the Distinguished Clinician Scholar Award for his outstanding contributions to clinical medicine, clinical scholarship and education.

Dr. Harrington’s career has focused on using quality improvement methodologies to optimize the processes of caring for patients with rheumatic diseases. Over the years, he has extensively collaborated with national and global colleagues, resulting in the publication of numerous papers in medical journals and two co-authored books about delivery of care innovations.

The first book—co-authored with Eric Newman, MD—was published in 2012: Great Health Care: Making It Happen, which introduces best practices for improving the care of chronic diseases. Earlier this year, Great Health Care Value: Chronic Diseases, Practice Teams, and Population Management, co-authored with Andrew Johnson, MS, MBA, was published. This book includes outcomes from the Rheumatoid Arthritis Practice Performance (RAPP) Project, a nationwide, clinical, quality-improvement initiative that was led by Dr. Harrington and has since grown to include 170 rheumatologists.

Meanwhile, Dr. Harrington launched a consulting firm that bears his name. He works with medical specialty practices, health systems and industry, and informally advises colleagues.

Dr. Harrington graduated from medical school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1965; finished his internal medicine training at Massachusetts General Hospital two years later; completed research and clinical associateships at the NIH’s National Cancer Institute in 1969; continued his internal medicine residency training at Parkland Memorial Hospital and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, both in Dallas, in 1970; and completed a rheumatology fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern in 1972. He spent the next six years in academic research, education and administration at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and then practiced rheumatology and taught practice improvement between 1976 and 2012, before retiring.

Dr. Harrington joined the ACR in 1970 and served on several committees and task forces, including the Committee on Rheumatologic Care, the Osteoporosis Taskforce and the Abstract Selection Committee. He previously was honored by the ACR with the Paulding Phelps award in 1993 and Master designation in 2005.

“I’ve had the satisfaction of helping practice teams improve their patient care and productivity,” says Dr. Harrington. “This third ACR award is the trifecta that acknowledges my efforts and those of my like-minded colleagues.”

Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award

Susan Manzi, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, chair of the Medicine Institute and director of the Lupus Center of Excellence at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, received the Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award for her outstanding contributions to the rheumatology.

Dr. Manzi has focused her career on caring for patients and conducting clinical and translational research in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

“I am honored and grateful to be the recipient of this award,” she says. “The ACR has played an important role at every stage of my career.”

Dr. Manzi graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1985, where she was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She completed her medical internship and residency at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., and her rheumatology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She earned a Master in Public Health from the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Manzi is recognized internationally as a pioneer in the investigation of premature cardiovascular disease in SLE and discovery of biomarkers for lupus diagnosis, monitoring and stratification. She has published more than 200 scientific reports and book chapters, and invented the cell-bound complement activation products (CB-CAPs) technology platform, for which she holds more than 20 patents.

Since she joined the ACR in the late 1980s, she has served on the Abstract Review Committee, the Committee on Research, the Professional Meetings Subcommittee and the Educational Products Committee, and served as the clinical chair of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee.

She has served on advisory boards for the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and pharma­ceutical and biotech companies, chaired or served on NIH study sections and data safety monitoring boards, and currently chairs the Lupus Foundation of America board of directors and is vice chair of the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics.

Among the awards she has received are the Pitt Innovator Award in 2005 and 2006 for her discovery of CB-CAPs, the 2017 Richard E. Deitrick Humanity in Medicine Award from the Allegheny County Medical Society and the 2019 Catholic Youth Association John E. McGrady Award for dedication to community service.

Looking ahead, Dr. Manzi says she hopes to “transform the experience of those suffering from autoimmune conditions by building teams that focus on a holistic approach to healthcare and access to research.”