Biographies of the 2013 Laureate Award Honorees
In 2013, the Texas Chapter presented its highest award to four distinguished members - Philip Bentlif, MD, FACP; Stephen Greenberg, MD, MACP; Antonio Gotto, Jr., MD, DPHIL, FACP; and Kenneth Shine, MD, MACP
The Laureate Award honors Fellows and Masters of the ACP who have demonstrated by their example and conduct an abiding commitment to excellence in medical care, education, or research, and in service to their community, the Chapter, and the ACP
Philip Sidney Bentlif, MD, FACP
Dr. Philip Sidney Bentlif was born into medicine as his father had an internal medicine solo practice in Jersey along England’s channel Isles. As a child, Philip would set up his toy soldiers as patients waiting to be seen in his fortress office. The German invasion of his home forced Phil to move to the British mainland, where he began his education at Eaton School. He pursued premedical studies at Jesus College, Cambridge University and graduated from Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London. Dr. Bentlif perused his post graduate training in internal medicine and gastroenterology in America at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Fortunately for us, Dr. Bentlif moved to Texas where he served as Chief resident at Baylor College of Medicine. Phil received the Certification of Honor for having the highest grade on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. He became an associate of the American College of Physicians in 1965, advanced to fellow to 1968, and has been active in the ACP for 48 years. He began his private practice in gastroenterology at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic and joined the clinical faculty at Baylor College of Medicine where he has remained on teaching staff for 42 years. Phil became a partner at the Medical Clinic of Houston in1988. Phil’s interests in gastroenterology are varied but he concentrated on the difficult field of inflammatory bowel disease. He led one of the largest clinics in ileitis and colitis in the country, and was one of the first to use biological agents for these diseases in the early 1990’s. He was a mentor to several physicians and served as co-chairman of the scientific advisory board of the Houston/ Gulf Coast Chapter for 14 years, and receiving the Great Texans Award in 1973. In 2002, he was recognized with the lifetime achievement award by the National Foundation for Ileitis and Colitis.
In addition to having memberships to numerous national and international medical societies, having published several scientific papers and given numerous lectures, Dr. Bentlif takes a great deal of satisfaction in his philanthropic work. He received the Honor al Merito de la Minstro de la Defensa National Republica de Guatemala for work done with Los Amigos de las Americas in 1969. He is a knight of the Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem which runs a leprosy clinic in Houston. Phil currently volunteers at the St. Jose Clinic in downtown Houston serving indigent patients.
Behind ever great man there is an even greater woman, and Philip met the love of his life Wendy Ann Williams during his internship at Middlesex Hospital in London. She has endured Phil’s years of training, being on call, moving to America, setting up his practice, far from her native home of Australia. The Bentlifs have been married for 54 years and have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. When they are not doting on their grandchildren, they enjoy traveling.
The Texas Chapter of ACP is pleased to bestow its Laureate Award for 2013, on Philip Sidney Bentlif, MD, FACP.
Stephen Greenberg, MD, MACP
Dr. Stephen B. Greenberg has resided in Houston for 41 years, coming from Baltimore to join Baylor College of Medicine as a Fellow in Infectious Diseases. He accepted a faculty position in the Department of Medicine in 1974, and has risen through the ranks to become Dean of Medical Education in 2006. Dr. Greenberg has been Chief of Medicine Service, Ben Taub General Hospital since 1990.
Dr. Greenberg holds the Herman Brown Teaching Professorship (1990–present). In 2002, he was appointed Distinguished Service Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. His many awards and honors include: membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and is a Master of the American College of Physicians. Throughout his career Dr. Greenberg has been committed to education. He was the recipient of the Chief Resident’s Award for Outstanding Attending in Internal Medicine at Baylor in 1987. He received the John P. McGovern Outstanding Clinical Teacher Award at Baylor in 1995, and the Baylor Alumni Award in 1999. In 2013 Dr. Greenberg was awarded the Barbara and Corbin J. Robertson, Jr. Presidential Award for Excellence in Education which is Baylor’s most prestigious award for faculty education service.
Dr. Greenberg has published over 150 peer–reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He served as North American Editor for the Journal of Infection from 2002–2008 and was editor of Practical Reviews in Infectious Diseases from 2008–2012. Dr. Greenberg’s past research interests have been in the area of respiratory viral infections.
Dr. Greenberg has contributed significantly to the educational mission of Baylor College of Medicine. He has instructed medical students in Physical Diagnosis, Microbiology, the Core Clerkship in Internal Medicine, and the Medicine and Infectious Diseases services at Ben Taub General Hospital. He has taught medicine residents as an Attending Physician, in conferences, and at the Ben Taub morning report. Currently, Dr. Greenberg has responsibility for all undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education programs at Baylor College of Medicine as Dean of Medical Education.
In recognition of his accomplishments in a career in medicine and his leadership in the specialty of Internal Medicine, the Texas Chapter of ACP is pleased to bestow on Dr. Stephen B. Greenberg, MD, MACP the Award of Laureate for 2013.
Antonio Gotto, Jr., MD, DPHIL, FACP
Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., MD, DPhil, FACP is Dean Emeritus and Co-Chairman of the Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, New York, where he is also the Lewis Thomas University Professor. In addition, Dr. Gotto is Vice President and Provost for Medical Affairs Emeritus of Cornell University. From 1997-2011, Dr. Gotto was the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean at Weill Cornell and Provost for Medical Affairs at Cornell University. Previously, at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, Dr. Gotto was the Bob and Vivian Smith Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Scientific Director of the DeBakey Heart Center, and the JS Abercrombie Chair for Atherosclerosis and Lipoprotein Research. He also served as Chief of the Internal Medicine Service at The Methodist Hospital in Houston.
Dr. Gotto’s postgraduate work included doctoral studies at Oxford University in England, as a Rhodes Scholar, and residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He and his associates were the first to achieve complete synthesis of a plasma apolipoprotein (apo C-I). They also determined the complete C-DNA and amino acid sequence of apo B-100, one of the largest proteins ever sequenced and a key protein in atherosclerosis. Dr. Gotto has played a leading role in several landmark clinical trials demonstrating that cholesterol-lowering drug treatment can reduce the risk for heart disease.
As a lifelong supporter of educational efforts aimed at cardiovascular risk reduction, Dr. Gotto has been National President of the American Heart Association and President of the International Atherosclerosis Society. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of many honors, including the Gold Heart Award from the American Heart Association, the Distinguished Alumnus award from Vanderbilt University and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, the Order of the Lion from the Republic of Finland, the International Okamoto Award from the Japan Vascular Disease Research Foundation, the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art First Class, the Maurice R. Greenberg Distinguished Service Award from NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, the Distinguished Achievement Award from the National Lipid Association, and the Pasarow Foundation Award in Cardiovascular Research. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Bologna and Abilene Christian University, honorary professorships from the University of Buenos Aires and Francisco Marroquin University (Guatemala), and he is an Honorary Member of the Society for Progress in Internal Medicine (Ludwig Heilmeyer Society) in Germany.
Dr. Gotto speaks nationally and internationally on cardiovascular disease and has contributed more than 500 scholarly articles and books to the medical literature. In addition, he is coauthor of a series of books that explain the origins and treatment of cardiovascular disease to the general public. Dr. Gotto has relocated to Houston, Texas where he is active in the Texas Medical Center as a Senior Member of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute.
The Texas Chapter of the American College of Physicians is proud to honor Antonio Gotto, Jr., MD, DPHIL, FACP as a Laureate for 2013.
Kenneth Shine, MD, MACP
Kenneth I. Shine, MD, is Special Advisor to the Chancellor, University of Texas System. He is currently overseeing the development of a new medical school in South Texas as well as one in Austin.
Prior to his role as Special Advisor, Dr. Shine served as Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. In that capacity he was responsible for the six U. T. System health initiatives and their aggregate operating budget of almost $8.4 billion. He has led system wide initiatives in clinical effectiveness, patient safety, and public health, as well as efforts to transform medical education. He was President of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), from 1992-2002. Under Dr. Shine's leadership, the IOM played an important and visible role in addressing key issues in medicine and healthcare. IOM reports on quality of care and patient safety, heightened national awareness of these issues.
Dr. Shine also was the founding Director of the RAND Center for Domestic and International Health Security. He led the Center’s efforts to make health a central component of U.S. foreign policy and guide the Center’s evolving research agenda. Dr. Shine is Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine. Before becoming president of the IOM, he was Dean and Provost for Medical Sciences at UCLA.