Two longtime AARDA volunteers have received the Star Volunteer Award for outstanding service on behalf of AARDA and autoimmune disease patients. Presenting the awards at a Board of Directors dinner in Dearborn, Michigan, President and Executive Director Virginia Ladd thanked Noel R. Rose, M.D., Ph.D., and Robert Meyer, CPA, for their support beginning in AARDA's earliest days. Both have played crucial roles in AARDA's development.
Since 1992, Dr. Noel Rose has been a source of advice, encouragement, and active participation. Starting as a member of AARDA's Scientific Board, he became Chairman of that Board in 1995 and now serves as Chairman Emeritus. Dr. Rose is a frequent speaker at AARDA public forums and scientific meetings. He has served on planning committees, and he regularly attends AARDA Board meetings to report on autoimmune research developments, participate in strategic planning, and lend guidance.
Dr. Rose always has time for AARDA even though he has a full schedule as Director of the Center for Autoimmune Disease Research, Bloomberg School of Public Health, at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland; mentors medical students; holds the positions of professor of pathology and professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins; and continues his prolific writing.
Dr. Rose's pioneering research some 50 years ago was instrumental in establishing the concept of autoimmune disease and helped immunologists understand, for the first time, that the immune system is capable of directing a response to health tissues and organs of the body, not just to invading foreign viruses and bacteria. He is co-editor of the classic textbook The Autoimmune Diseases, now in its 4th edition; has published more than 760 articles in peer-reviewed journals; has edited or co-edited some 72 books; and has served as an editorial board member of more than 21 journals.
Also honored as an AARDA Star Volunteer was outgoing Treasurer Robert Meyer, CPA. Mr. Meyer, a charter member of AARDA's Board of Directors and immediate past Chairman of the Board, has served AARDA through the years as Board member, Chairman of the Board, and Treasurer of the Association. He serves on AARDA's Corporate Advisory Committee and the National Resource Development Committee. In AARDA's early years especially, the road between Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Detroit, Michigan, was well traveled by Mr. Meyer as he helped in setting up the financial records aspect of AARDA work and attended Board meetings. Still true to AARDA service, Mr. Meyer slowly phased out his office time with the organization as he assisted in closing out the fiscal year and transitioning AARDA to the new treasurer.
In his "other" life, Mr. Meyer is president of Fort Wayne Insurance Services, Inc., in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
We in AARDA are fortunate to have really great volunteers, and we are pleased that we can take this opportunity to honor two of them--Dr. Noel R. Rose and Robert Meyer--with the Star Volunteer award.
Excerpt from "InFocus" -- written by Eula Hoover
