Progress Medals

Progress Medal 2025 is awarded to

Prof. M. Bajpai (MS, MCh, FRCS, FACS, PhD, National Board, FAMS Fulbright scholar -Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Commonwealth Fellow- G.O.S., London, Raja Ramanna Fellow i)

• Executive Director, Vice President & Member of Governing Council: National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences a. Formerly-Dean (Academic), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi b. Professor & Head, Dept. of Paediatric Surgery at A.I.I.M.S., New Delhi from 01 January, 2019. c. Professor in-charge- International Cooperation, Domestic & International MoU at AIIMS

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Progress Medal 2014 is awarded to

Progress Medlist Test (Progress Medlist Test Medal Name)

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Progress Medal 2006 is awarded to

Albert Pena (MD)

In Marcus Pfister’s children’s book, The Rainbow Fish, the main character is a fish whose scales incorporate all of the colors of the rainbow. He is bright and beautiful, and admired by all of the other fish in the ocean whose scales have no color at all. One day, the rainbow fish is approached by one of these fish and asked if he might have one of the rainbow fish’s scales. Willingly, the rainbow fish gives one of his colors away. Word spreads among the other fish in the ocean, and they each begin approaching the rainbow fish about receiving one of his scales. The rainbow fish obliges. Eventually, the rainbow fish gives away all of his colors, and the ocean is full of beautiful fish of all shades. For me, and many hundreds of children, families, doctors and nurses, Dr. Alberto Peña is like the rainbow fish. He is passionately committed to educating others about colorectal and genitourinary problems, their treatment, and long-term management. He has done so by hosting educational courses for physicians and other medical professionals, writing prolifically about the subject, and by extensively traveling around the world to perform surgery and to teach. He has performed more than 3000 complex procedures and has cared for many hundreds of other patients that could be treated non-operatively. He welcomes many visitors and encourages physicians of patients from around the country and the world to come to assist in their patients’ operations so that they will be better equipped to manage them upon their return home, and to receive education about how to diagnose and treat future children. Surgeons, other doctors, nurses, trainees, parents, and children are regular recipients of a rainbow colored scale generously given to them by Dr. Peña throughout his career. For physicians who experience this graciousness, many are changed forever. I was one such physician who had the great fortune of meeting him when I was a medical student. To use Dr. Peña’s phrase, such individuals have been “bitten by the spider.” Once one encounters his unique technical elegance and style there is an intense desire to try to emulate these qualities in one’s own care of patients. Dr. Peña experienced his own transformation when he found himself in Boston in 1965, watching Dr. Robert Gross, the father of pediatric surgery in the United States. He was there from Mexico under unfortunate circumstances as a young surgeon and father, when his son was being cared for by Dr. Gross for biliary atresia. At that time before the advent of liver transplantation, Dr. Peña and his wife Rosalinda sadly became grieving parents. That experience changed him forever. It led to his training at Boston Children’s Hospital with Dr. Gross from 1967 to 1970, and thereafter returning to Mexico City with “new eyes.” I am certain this was the genesis of Dr. Peña’s intense desire to encourage others and to advance a field. Similar to the prospects of a baby born today with biliary atresia, children with anorectal malformations face a dramatically improved quality of life, thanks in large part to the work of one individual, his capacity for innovation and creativity, and his intense desire to help others learn to better help their patients. It is an honor to dedicate this work, a compilation of advances in this special area of pediatric surgery and urology, to my mentor and friend. Marc A. Levitt, MD, Colorectal Center for Children, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Pediatric Surgery, 3333 Burnet Avenue, ML 2023 A tribute by Marc A. Levitt, MD

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Progress Medal 2005 is awarded to

Philip Doddard Ransley (FRCS, FAAP (Hon). Director & Senior Consultant, Department of Paediatric Urology Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, U.K.)

Anglo-American Paediatric Urology has matured a great deal since the lines of Americans going to London and Liverpool for advanced training in Paediatric Urology have dwindled over the years. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon has been the contribution of Philip Goddard Ransley FRCS, FAAP (Hon). I feel I can speak without prejudice on this subject and with some authority as I received my basic Paediatric Urology education a few hundred miles northwest in Liverpool with Mr. J Herbert Johnston one of the two doyens of our speciality. Philip took up the entire dual mantle for English Paediatric Urology when both Sir David Innes Williams and Herbie Johnston retired. Philip then emerged in American parlance as a true Triple Threat as a surgeon, scholar and thinker. As a surgeon, Philip has travelled the world performing surgery and has trained numerous overseas visitors both at the GOS, Guys and Portland hospitals. As a scholar, Philip has contributed many manuscripts which have been published in all major urological, nephrology and Paediatric Surgery journals. As a thinker, Philip has always questioned traditional ideas and has made several unique observations, which have survived scientific scrutiny and also withstood the test of time. As an academic I have the pleasure to sit on two subcommittees of the Professorial Promotions Committee here at Johns Hopkins. By all criteria that we use for promotion to full professor: (1) scholarly achievement, (2) contributions to ones field and (3) international reputation, Philip meets or exceeds each criteria. The fact that he has not been appointed as the second Professor of Paediatric Urology in the United Kingdom is not due to any shortcoming on his part as he is richly deserving of this honour. Nonetheless, with his many achievements both at home and abroad and his major contributions to our field we dedicate this issue of Progress in Paediatric Urology to Philip Goddard Ransley our colleague, friend and our well deserved International Professor of Paediatric Urology. A tribute by John P Gearhart, MD, FAAP

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Progress Medal 2004 is awarded to

Nathalie Josso (MD , Ph.D)

Presently Chief Investigator (Directeur de Recherches, classe exceptionnelle) at I'Institut National de la Santeet de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) affiliated with Paris-Sud University Paris, France. Foetal sexual differentiation, and particularly the role of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), have concentrated the professional enthusiasm of Dr Nathalie Josso. The existence of this foetal testicular factor, different from testosterone and responsible for the regression of Müllerian ducts -the primordia of the uterus and Fallopian tubes- in early male development had been postulated by Alfred Jost in the 1950's. However, the nature of the "Müllerian inhibitor" remained unknown. A paediatrician, intrigued by the intersex conditions, Nathalie Josso joined Dr Jost's laboratory and obtained a Ph.D. degree under his supervision in 1971. These were the first steps that led towards a comprehensive understanding of the foetal testicular factor that Dr. Josso named AMH. A Parisian passionate for her natal city, Nathalie Josso developed her professional career as an Investigator at the INSERM and a consultant in Paediatric Endocrinology in top level Parisian institutions. Nathalie first led a research team at the INSERM Unit directed by Dr Frézal at the Hôpital des Enfants Malades for more than 20 years. Between 1971 and 1973, Nathalie's team was the first to purify AMH from bovine foetal testes and show that AMH was produced exclusively by Sertoli cells, achievements rapidly recognised overseas and honoured with invitations to deliver the Lawson Wilkins Memorial Lecture in Baltimore (USA, 1975) and the Laurentian Hormone Conference in Mont Tremblant (Canada, 1976). Exigent for excellence, Nathalie drove her team to the development of precious research tools, e.g. anti-AMH monoclonal antibodies, which finally enabled the identification of AMH as a disulfide-bonded glycoprotein dimer. Nathalie has always pointed out the importance of applying novel technologies to enhance the advancement of a research project. She kept at the state-of-the-art and encouraged her co-workers to develop and apply the most adequate techniques in the search for transcendental knowledge. Using novel genetic and molecular techniques, Nathalie's team cloned the bovine AMH cDNA in 1986 (almost at the same time as the human gene was cloned in Boston by Dr Richard Cate) and mapped the human AMH gene to chromosome 19 in 1987. In 1986, Nathalie Josso founded the Unité de Recherches sur l'Endocrinologie du Développement (INSERM), which she directed for 12 years. The research unit was hosted by one of the most outstanding French academic institutions, the Ecole Normale Supérieure. Further achievements were the molecular characterisation of the Persistent Müllerian Duct Syndrome (PMDS), the demonstration that Sertoli cell AMH production is regulated at puberty by an intricate interaction between testosterone, FSH and meiotic germ cells, and the development of AMH assays enabling the use of its determination in serum as a diagnostic tool. Finally, Nathalie's group, in collaboration with Dr Cate (Boston, USA), was the first to clone the AMH receptor type II, a specific transmembrane protein with serine/threonine kinase activity and to demonstrate mutations in its gene result in AMH insensitivity, characteristic of one sub-type of PMDS. Furthermore, Nathalie's lab showed that AMH receptors are present on Leydig cells, where AMH exerts a repressive effect on cell differentiation and steroidogenic capacity. In collaboration with Dr Massagué (New York), Nathalie's group identified a type I AMH receptor and was the first to show that AMH signals through Smad proteins. Dr Nathalie Josso has devoted her intellect and efforts with passion to a clearly and brilliantly delineated research subject. Her work has led world-wide research on AMH for almost 40 years and has settled the basis for the relentless search of further knowledge on the subject. A tribute by Rodolfo Rey MD, PhD

Progress Medal 2003 is awarded to

Prem Puri (MBBS, LRCP & S (Edin.), DCH, MS, FRCS, FRCS (Edin.) FACS.)

Presently Director of Research Children's Research Centre, OUr Lady's Hospital for Sick Children Dublin, Ireland The volume-6 of Progress in Paediatric Urology is devoted to the state-of-the-art practices in vesico-ureteric reflux (VUR). Our understanding of VUR has changed dramatically over the past decades due to the immense contribution of individuals such as Stephens, Ransley, Belman, Koff and Puri. Even though we have a wide knowledge of the aetiology, pathogenesis and natural history of VUR, there is still a large group of patients who are prone to severe impairment of renal function with subsequent dependence on chronic dialysis. The management of VUR has been controversial. The International Reflux Study Group in Children (European Section) and the American UrologicalAssociation report on VUR has clearly shown a low spontaneous resolution rate in high-grade VUR after 5 years of medical treatment. Open surgery in VUR pioneered by Politano and Leadbetter, and Cohen has enjoyed a high grade of success, but it is not free of complications even in the best of hands. Every one of us who has operated on a child with VUR knows what it means for the child and his parents: a long postoperative stay in the ward, barely resolving postoperative pain due to bladder contractions and the parents' anticipation of the outcome of surgery. The introduction of endoscopic procedures for the treatment of reflux was a radical departure from the standard surgical intervention and observational therapy to the minimally invasive outpatient procedure. In 1984, Puri and O'Donnell reported successful correction of experimentally produced VUR by subureteric polytetrafluorethylene injection. The authors named their operation STING. Since then, thousands of children worldwide have been successfully treated utilizing this procedure. Since the first report of the use of STING in clinical practice, Prem Puri has made enormous efforts to popularize this procedure and make STING a standard of care in the management of VUR. Although this procedure had gained popularity in Europe and its creator was granted in 1984 the highest Irish national award-People of the Year Award-paediatric urologists in the North American continent were reluctant to use STING. The advent of a new tissue-augmented substance Deflux® approved by the FDA has changed the attitude of our American colleagues to endoscopic treatment and made them even more enthusiastic about STING than the Europeans. It is an honour for me and a great privilege to write this tribute to Professor Prem Puri. Professor Puri is currently a Director of the Children's Research Centre at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin and Consultant Paediatric Surgeon. He is a Council Member of the prestigious World Federation of Societies for Paediatric Urology (W.O.F.S.O.U.) and Honorary Member of the Asian Society for Paediatric Urology (A.S.P.U.) and Indian Society for Paediatric Urology (I.S.P.U.). He is also a member of other learned and scientific societies including Honorary Member of the American, Austrian, Argentinean, South African and Indian Association of Paediatric Surgeons. Professor Puri is the Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Surgery International and Associate Editor of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery. I would like to express my warm approval of Prem's efforts to organize and develop basic and clinical research in paediatric urology and surgery; his interests are boundless. Professor Puri is the author of 9 monographs, 68 chapters and over 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Since 1985, more than 50 research fellows from around the world have worked and been trained in research under his supervision at the Children's Research Centre. Prem is our dearest mentor and friend. Since the introduction of the endoscopic treatment of reflux, Prem and his group have been conducting research on the genetics of VUR and the pathogenesis of renal damage associated with VUR. We anticipate that a better understanding of the mechanism of renal damage will open new horizons in the management of VUR and renal scarring, and will allow us not only to fix the reflux but also to prevent renal damage at an early stage Children with VUR and their parents, urologists and paediatric surgeons and physicians around the world owe a debt of gratitude to Professor Puri for his persistent and challenging treatment strategies in VUR over the past 20 years. I convey to Prem my personal warmest congratulations on the publication of this book with the sincere hope that paediatric urology will continue to benefit from his profound insight and tremendous working capacity, and we will be able to continue our fruitful collaboration and friendship for many years to come. With this in mind, the current volume of Progress in Paediatric Urology is dedicated to Mr. Prem Puri, Professor, MS, FRCS, FRCS (EDIN.), FACS. A tribute by Boris Chertin, MD

Progress Medal 2001 is awarded to

Michael A. Mitchell (MD)

This edition of Progress in Paediatric Urology is devoted t the current state of the art in Posterior Urethral Valves. Our understanding of urethral valves has evolved dramatically over the years guided by such individuals as Young, Stephens Churchill, and Duckett. But only recently has the paradigm of dynamic interaction, reverberating through all of biology and medicine in recent years, made its way into contemporary thinking about the biology and clinical management of this intriguing urologic entity. Beginning with his concept of a 'valve bladder syndrome' over 20 years ago, wherein upper tract drainage was found to be critically and complexly linked to the dynamic state of bladder emptying or filling, Mike Mitchell has refocused his well-respected creative thinking on the valve bladder toreemphasize the role of cycling and the ability of valve bladders to remodel themselves I the opportunity and chance to do so is insured by valve ablation without diversion. Ironically, while not the first to espouse the concept of 'cycling' per se, Mitchell, a consummate reconstructive surgeon, has given the bladder the opportunity to shine on its own and demonstrate its enormous reparative potential-a feat, which has been historically overshadowed in past eras where diversion and augmentation dominated therapy of this enigmatic condition. Since then, and particularly on the heels of the seminal report by Close and Mitchell on the remarkable effects of ablation monotherapy, these ideas are also finding their way into the embryonic field of paediatric bladder molecular science. The infant boys with congenital posterior urethral valves, and the urologists and physicians around the world who care for them, own a debt of gratitude to Mike for persistently championing these concepts over the last two decades. With this in mind, this current volume of Progress in Paediatric Urology id dedicated to Dr. Michael E. Mitchell, MD. A tribute by Darius J. Bagli, MDCM, FRCSC, FAAP

Progress Medal 1999 is awarded to

Sir David Innes Williams (MD, MCHIR, FRCS)

Sir David Innes Williams was appointed at Great Ormond street hospital for Children as a senior genitourinary surgeon and contributed to the publication of the Urology of Childhood in early 1951. He made indepth studies of posterior urethral valves and was the first to emphasize to the pediatricians the need to recognize urinary obstruction in the neonate and it’s treatment before infection supervened. Publication of Springer Encyclopedia of urology was also his distinguished contribution, both in providing an educational manual on the subject as well as in raising the bar for the emerging cadres of paediatric Urologists across the world. Sir David Innes Williams recognized the value of a combined training regimen in general urology and paediatric surgery and established an excellent training facility at great Ormond street hospital, London, where he worked till 1978. He was joined by Mr. Philip G. Ransley in 1977 who carried his torch and legacy for the next three decades mentoring and firing the enthusiasm of many more paediatric urologists, including the 1authors of this tribute. Sir David is gifted as a highly respected teacher and an education supervisor. This is exemplified by the posts he held subsequently: Director of the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, Chairman of the Council for Postgraduate Medical Education in England and Wales, Chairman of the Overseas Committee of the General Medical Council and President of the British Medical Association for 1988-89. The members of the Executive Council of the World Federation of Societies for Paediatric Urology feel privileged in honoring Sir David Innes Williams. A tribute by Minu Bajpai, MD, MS, MCh, PhD, National Board, Fulbright Scholar.