Their noteworthy and significant contributions have an important impact on society, and their efforts to advance the common good serve as an inspiration to others. This year St. Stephen’s has introduced its first Alumni recognition award to celebrate the accomplishments of our Alumni/ae. This award is the highest honor the school can bestow upon an Alumnus/a in recognition of his or her achievements.

A little bit about the award: the award is given to a deserving individual, who has demonstrated continuing outstanding commitment to the School’s core values: Care, Integrity, Creativity, Independence and Scholarship; the nominee may be submitted for a lifetime accomplishment or a single honor or event; qualifying individuals are alumni who graduated from or attended St. Stephen’s, selfnominations are not permitted; and former awardees and current members of the Board of Trustees are not eligible for the award.

After considerable deliberation, the Alumni Recognition Award Committee unanimously agreed that the recipient of the School’s first award would be St. Stephen’s alumnus Peter K. Gregersen ’68 for his contribution to medicine. Dr. Gregersen and his team conduct genomewide scans to identify polymorphisms that are associated with rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Myasthenia Gravis. He leads the North American Rheumatology Consortium to collect, analyze and make available clinical and genetic data on 1,000 sibling pairs with rheumatoid arthritis. His complete biography follows below. On learning of his nomination and win from Chair of the Board of Trustees Jeff Schon, Dr. Gregersen shared a moving tribute to the School.