Crofford Receives International Woman in Inflammation Science Award

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 11, 2011) — The University of Kentucky’s Dr. Leslie Crofford was the recipient of this year’s Woman in Inflammation Science award from the International Association of Inflammation Societies (IAIS).

Crofford received the award at the 10th biennial World Conference on Inflammation held in Paris this past June. The IAIS award is given to recognize and honor an individual female scientist who has demonstrated scientific excellence in the field of inflammation research and who has, either through leadership or by example, promoted the advancement and development of women in this field.

Crofford is the Gloria W. Singletary Professor and chief of the Division of Rheumatology & Women’s Health in the Department of Internal Medicine at UK. She has a joint appointment as professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics. 

She has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as by research foundations and industry, since leaving the intramural program of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) in 1993.

Mentoring women scientists is an important award criteria. Crofford has made this an important part of her scholarly activities and has been funded by NIH to train arthritis research  scientists. She is past president of the American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation, an organization committed to developing the careers of physician scientists. Crofford currently serves on the Advisory Council to the NIAMS. 

Crofford has authored more than 150 publications on subjects in rheumatology and women’s health. The main focus of her work is inflammation and pain in rheumatic diseases. She is known for her contributions to developing new anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics.

Crofford also serves as the director of the Center for the Advancement of Women’s Health and as director of the Clinical Research Center of the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science. In addition, she serves as principal investigator for the Kentucky Women's Health Registry, which facilitates recruitment of women to clinical studies and provides a dataset for cross-sectional and longitudinal epidemiologic studies.

The IAIS is a non-profit organization that aims to promote international cooperation among inflammation scientists as well as providing a communication network between inflammation societies throughout the world.

MEDIA CONTACT: Allison Perry, (859) 323-2399 or allison.perry@uky.edu