Oklahoma City, April 23, 2003 – At its semiannual board meeting last night, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation presented the Edward L. and Thelma Gaylord Prize for Scientific Achievement to OMRF scientist Paul W. Kincade, Ph.D.
Also Tuesday, OMRF honored longtime director H.E. “Gene” Rainbolt, named K. Mark Coggeshall, Ph.D., as the first holder of the Robert S. Kerr Jr. Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at OMRF and welcomed the Honorable Claire V. Eagan to the board.
Kincade, the head of OMRF’s immunobiology and cancer research program, became the ninth person to receive the Gaylord Prize for Scientific Achievement. The award is named in honor of Edward L. Gaylord, who served on OMRF’s board for over 40 years, including 14 years as chair, and his late wife, Thelma.
Kincade’s research focuses on understanding how cells grow in the bone marrow, which is crucial to diagnosing and treating cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. A 21-year OMRF veteran, Kincade is the president of the American Association of Immunologists and president-elect of the 60,000-member Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology, the largest coalition of biomedical research association in the U.S.
Rainbolt, who has served on OMRF’s board for more than a quarter-century, received the board’s Distinguished Service Award. Rainbolt currently chairs OMRF’s five-year, $100 million “For the Future of Medical Research” Campaign. Begun in November 1999, the campaign recently surpassed the $88 million mark.
Rainbolt is chairman of the board of BancFirst in Oklahoma City, a position he has held since 1974. A member of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame with a long history of service on public and nonprofit boards, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from OU and also attended the University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Banking.
Coggeshall became the first person to hold OMRF’s Robert S. Kerr Jr. Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, which was established last year by Lou C. Kerr on behalf of the Kerr Foundation. Coggeshall holds a doctorate from Duke University and is a member of OMRF’s immunobiology and cancer research program.
Joining the board was the Honorable Claire V. Eagan of Tulsa. Eagan is a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Prior to being appointed to the federal bench by President Bush in 2001, Eagan was a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Tulsa and, before that, a partner in the Tulsa law firm of Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Gable, Golden & Nelson.
Also at the meeting, OMRF President Dr. J. Donald Capra presented Brian Gordon, D.V.M., with the President’s Service Award. Gordon is the director of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Genetic Research at OMRF.
Chartered in 1946, OMRF is a private, nonprofit biomedical research institute whose scientists work at the molecular level to understand and find treatments for a range of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, arthritis and lupus.
