LaDora V. Thompson Receives Prestigious Award

CMTM Faculty To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. LaDora V. Thompson has been named the 2022 recipient of the Denham Harman Award.

The Denham Harman Award, from the American Aging Association, is the highest honor in recognition of lifetime achievement in the field of research on aging.

Created in 1978, the award was named in honor of Dr. Denham Harman, a pioneer in research on aging who is credited with establishing the free radical theory of aging in a paper he published in 1954.  His hypothesis did not attract serious consideration for almost 30 years, but its core insights opened new avenues of research into the causes of many age-related diseases. Harman died in 2014 at the age of 98.

The award will be made at the organization’s annual meeting, held this year in San Antonio, TX, May 18th, 2022.

The Thompson research laboratory is focused on uncovering the molecular and cellular mechanisms that often go out of balance during aging, with a specific focus on skeletal muscle.  As a function of chronological aging, biological changes occur, and those vulnerabilities set the stage for muscle weakness and dysfunction.  Thus, by understanding the primary forces of aging and slowing them down, it may be possible to prevent or treat these dysfunctions resulting in enhanced health span.