Tomas Ganz ’70, M.D. ’78

Tomas Ganz ’70, M.D. ’78, was honored with the UCLA Medical Alumni & Aesculapians Medical Science Award, which recognizes an individual who has brought distinction to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA through outstanding achievements in medical research or education.

Ganz and his research group have characterized the chemistry and biological properties of bioactive peptides (compounds with amino acids) important to innate immunity, such as human defensins of white blood cells, the genitourinary tract, and the skin. More recently, they have discovered and characterized hepcidin, the iron-regulatory peptide hormone, and developed an assay (a mixture of hepcidin to determine its constituents and their proportions) that is used for clinical studies worldwide. This interface between innate immunity and iron metabolism is considered a major breakthrough. Ganz is called upon regularly for consultations by leading pharmaceutical companies, including his participation in the development of antimicrobial peptides as therapeutic antibiotics.

Ganz earned his bachelor of science in physics and his medical degree at UCLA. He also earned a doctorate in applied physics at the California Institute of Technology, he was an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at UCLA, where he also was a fellow in pulmonary medicine. He conducted postdoctoral studies in molecular biology with Harvey Herschman, winner of MAA’s 2002 Medical Science Award. In 1983, Ganz was appointed assistant professor-in-residence in the UCLA Department of Medicine, in 1986 assistant professor, in 1989 associate professor, and in 1993 and 1996 professor of medicine and professor of pathology, respectively. He is certified with the American Board of Internal Medicine with a subspecialty in pulmonary medicine.

His memberships include the American Thoracic Society, American Federation for Clinical Research, and Western Society for Clinical Investigation. In addition, Ganz has served on government, corporate and foundation advisory panels, editorial boards and numerous academic, peer-review and community-based committees. Among his honors are the Edith and Carl Lasky Award, Parker B. Francis Foundation Fellowship, RJR Nabisco Scholarship, 2005 Marcel Simon Award for Contribution to the Knowledge of Iron Metabolism and Its Disorders (International Bioiron Society) , and election to the American Association of Physicians.

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