Holy Cross Recognizes Alumni for Outstanding Professional Achievements and Service Four Sanctae Crucis Awards Presented to Pioneering Medical Researchers, International Relief Worker, Documentarian/Activist
Four graduates of the College of the Holy Cross-including an internationally recognized pioneer in heart disease research, the surgeon credited with dramatically reducing the rate of deaths from testicular cancer, a 1975 graduate who has devoted his career to relief work in countries devastated by war and poverty, and a documentary filmmaker who has created a first-of-its-kind mentoring program for young prisoners - have all received Sanctae Crucis Awards, the highest non-degree recognition bestowed by the College on an alumnus or alumna.
The eighth annual presentation of the awards took place on April 22 at the College.
This year’s recipients are:
John P. Donohue, M.D., ’54, Outstanding Professional Achievement and Community Service
Chair of the urology department at Indiana University Medical Center from 1971 through 1998, Dr. Donohue earned his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College. After serving as ship’s surgeon on the aircraft carrier, USS Wasp, Dr. Donohue completed his residency in urology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University, joining the Indiana University Medical Center faculty in 1965. Dr. Donohue pioneered the development of chemotherapy and nerve-sparing surgical techniques for testis cancer while building a world-renowned department for training urologic surgeons. Some of Dr. Donohue’s honors include: Outstanding Teacher in Surgery and Outstanding Professor in Clinical Sciences (five times); the Barringer Medal from the American Association of GU Surgeons; Valentine Medal of the New York Academy of Medicine; Distinguished Contribution Award of the American Urological Association; and the Uro-oncology Award from the Japanese Urological Association and from the Australia Urological Society. In addition, he received the Charles Higgins Medal and the first Distinguished Career Award given by the Société Internationale d’Urologie, and the Ramon Guiteras Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Urological Association. In 1996, Donohue was awarded Indiana University’s President’s Medal.
Dr. Donohue and his wife Rosemary live in Melbourne Beach, Florida.
Peter O. Kwiterovich, M.D., ’62, Outstanding Professional Achievement and Community Service
A recognized leader in heart disease research, Dr. Kwiterovich earned his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. After an internship in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Dr. Kwiterovich spent three years in the molecular disease branch of the National Heart and Lung Institute, where he first began to concentrate on research in the areas of cholesterol and its effect on the heart. Returning to Johns Hopkins in 1972, he established the Lipid Research Program. In the early 1990s, he discovered three new proteins that play a critical role in heart disease. The author of the books, Beyond Cholesterol and The Johns Hopkins Complete Guide to Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease, Dr. Kwiterovich is a recipient of the Helen B. Taussig Award, given by the American Heart Association. Today, Dr. Kwiterovich is at the forefront of cholesterol-related research and has turned his attention to the increasing problem of childhood obesity. Serving on the steering committee for a major research initiative, The Dietary Intervention Study in Children, Kwiterovich helped to complete the first study to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of a low-fat diet in children.
Dr. Kwiterovich and his wife Martha live in Baltimore.
John A. Wiater ’75, Outstanding Professional Achievement and Community Service
Upon graduating from Holy Cross, Mr. Wiater began his career in community service, and he has pursued a mission of tenacious responsibility ever since. For 19 years, he worked with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), an international relief organization. Mr. Wiater served as an assistant country representative in Columbia and Peru, before becoming a country representative in Paraguay. In 1985, he assumed responsibility for community development in Cameroon, Guinea, Chad, the Central African Republic and Zaire. In 1987, Mr. Wiater moved to war-torn Ethiopia, where he oversaw CSR’s administrative, finance and logistical operations - managing a 150,000-megaton annual food-aid program, which provided desperately-needed aid to more than one million Ethiopians. In 1992, he moved to Guatemala, overseeing the management of development programs, including initiatives for child health care, sustainable agriculture and human rights. Most recently, Mr. Wiater worked with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, first as the external assistance and program coordinator, and as head of the department of justice’s administrative division.
Mr. Wiater, who is married to Luz Stella Wiater, will soon leave his residence in New Britain, Conn., to take a new assignment with the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa).
Tara M. Libert ’86, Outstanding Young Alumna
The owner of Big Picture Productions in Washington, D.C., Ms. Libert is also the founder of the Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop, a first-of-its-kind program based at the District of Columbia jail. Developed and implemented by Libert in conjunction with Georgetown University Law Center’s Family Literacy Program, Free Minds is an educational initiative that serves incarcerated juveniles. Promoting literacy and personal development through reading and creative writing, Ms. Libert’s program, which has been featured in the Washington Post, has made a difference in the lives of more than 70 young men. Ms. Libert is currently creating a program to find pen pals and mentors for these young prisoners. The host of There’s Got to Be a Better Way, a call-in radio program profiling people who offer creative solutions to social problems, Ms. Libert is also a community mediator and conference facilitator; she was the producer of the award-winning documentary, Childhood Cancer Clusters in Toms River, N.J.
Ms. Libert is a resident of Philadelphia.
The Sanctae Crucis Awards were established in 1998 to recognize the distinguished achievements of alumni. "The primary goals of the Sanctae Crucis Awards are to honor outstanding alumni and in so doing recognize and celebrate the distinctive mission of Holy Cross," says Frank Vellaccio, Senior Vice President, who presented the awards to recipients. The Holy Cross Mission Statement is the foundation for the awards program, which honors alumni who are leaders in business, professional or civic life, who live by the highest intellectual and ethical standards, and who are committed to the service of faith and promotion of justice. Past recipients have included: John Higgins ’76, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Sun Times; Paul La Camera ’64 President and general manager, WCVB-TV Boston; Peter J. O'Connor ’63, founder and executive director of the Fair Share Housing Development Corporation; and Joyce O'Shaughnessy ’78, a leading breast cancer researcher and practitioner.
|
