The J.E. Wallace Sterling
Lifetime Achievement Award in Medicine
In the summer of 1953, J. E. Wallace Sterling, president of Stanford University, persuaded the university trustees to move the School of Medicine from San Francisco to the main Palo Alto campus. The school was moved in 1959, and was transformational in its bringing together, in one location, the resources and pioneering breakthroughs of the School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital, and Stanford University. Stanford Medicine grew steadily in national stature until it attained and now holds a respected place in the front ranks of medical education, scientific achievement, and clinical medicine.
Many years following the move to campus, retired faculty surgeon Gunther W. Nagel, MD ’21, proposed that the school establish an award in Sterling’s name to recognize a distinguished graduate. In 1983, the Stanford Medicine Alumni Association Board of Governors conferred the first J. E. Wallace Sterling Lifetime Achievement Award, now presented annually to a Stanford University School of Medicine MD graduate in recognition of exceptional lifetime achievement in medicine.
2025 Award Recipient
Linda M. Liau, MD ’91, PhD, MBA
Linda M. Liau, MD, PhD, MBA, is the W. Eugene Stern Professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She earned her BSc in biochemistry from Brown University, her MD from Stanford, and her PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. She completed her residency in neurosurgery and a fellowship in neuro-immunology at UCLA.
Dr. Liau joined the UCLA faculty in 1998. She became a professor with tenure and chair of the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery in 2017, the second woman in the country to chair a neurosurgical department. She is also the principal investigator of the National Cancer Institute-funded UCLA Brain Cancer SPORE.
Dr. Liau was the first woman to chair the American Board of Neurological Surgery. She served on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the NCI and as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology; she currently serves on the board of directors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Dr. Liau is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Guha Award from the Society for Neuro-Oncology, the Charles B. Wilson Excellence Award from the AANS/CNS Tumor Section of the Brain Tumor Society, and the Winn Prize from the Society of Neurological Surgeons. She is an elected member of Academia Sinica and the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Liau’s research interests include cell-based immunotherapy and immuno-gene therapy for brain tumors. She is internationally recognized for her discoveries related to brain tumor immunology and immunotherapy, developing the first clinical dendritic cell vaccine for glioblastoma. Clinically, she specializes in the surgical management of gliomas, meningiomas, and brain metastases.
Video Tributes to 2024 Award Recipients
Michael P. Link, MD '74
Edward B. Stinson, ’60, MD ’65
Video Tributes to 2023 Award Recipients
George Demetri, MD '83
Robert C. Malenka, PhD ’82, MD ’83
Video Tributes to 2022 Award Recipients
Sharon Hunt, MD ’72
Yvonne A. Maldonado, MD ’81
Video Tributes to 2021 Award Recipients
Karl Deisseroth, PhD ’98, MD ’00
D. Craig Miller, MD ’72
Video Tributes to 2019 Award Recipients
Charles A. Czeisler, PhD '78, MD '81
Michael Rutledge DeBaun MD ’87, MS ‘87
Video Tributes to 2018 Award Recipients
Lori A. Alvord, MD ’85, Resident ’91
Michael A. Caligiuri, MS ’81, MD ’83
Video Tributes to 2017 Award Recipients
Diana W. Bianchi, MD ’80
Max S. Wicha, MD ’74
Video Tributes to 2016 Award Recipients
Nancy Lee Harris, BS ’65, MD ’70
Gary K. Steinberg, PhD ’79, MD ’80
Past Sterling Award Recipients
1983
Esther Clark, MD ’25
1984
Donald E. King, MD ’27
Carleton Mathewson Jr., MD ’27
1985
David Rytand, MD ’33
1987
Sherman Mellinkoff, MD ’44
1988
David Wood, MD ’30
1989
Gunther Nagel, MD ’21
Wilbur Hurlbut, MD ’38
1990
Roy B. Cohn, MD ’33
Robert E. Tranquada, MD ’55
1991
Alvin Cox Jr., MD ’31
Marcus A. Krupp, MD ’39
1992
Victor Richards, MD ’39
Sidney Raffel, MD ’43
1993
Cecil C. Cutting, MD ’35
William P. Creger, MD ’47
1995
Richard S. Lee, MD ’45
Peter V. Lee, MD ’47
Philip R. Lee, MD ’48
Hewlett Lee, MD ’49
Margo Lee Paulsen, MD ’53
1996
Allan Goodman, MD ’61
1998
Thomas N. Elmendorf, MD ’45
Jack McCleary, MD ’51
Robert D. Burnett, MD ’53
Eugene S. Ogrod II, MD ’70
1999
Donald Tsang, MD ’57
Norman Rich, MD ’60
2000
Irving Weissman, MD ’65
2001
F. William Blaisdell, MD ’52
2003
William R. Brody, MD ’70, PhD ’72
2004
Ronald Levy, MD ’68
2005
William Northway, MD ’57
2006
Frances K. Conley, MD ’66
Augustus A. White, III, MD ’61
2007
Linda Hawes Clever, MD ’65
J.D. Northway, MD ’60
2008
Laurence A. Boxer, MD ’66
Donald J. Prolo, III, MD ’61
2009
Paul M. Ellwood, Jr., MD ’53
Robert Schimke, MD ’58
2010
Ross D. Bright, MD ’58
2011
Diane E. Griffin, MD ’68, PhD ’70
John Griffin, MD ’68
2012
Fernando S. Mendoza, MD ’75
Jose I. Santos, MD ’75
2013
Linda C. Giudice, MD ’82
Ron G. Rosenfeld, MD ’73
2014
Debra A. Schwinn, MD ’83
2015
Linda M. Boxer, MD ’81, PhD ’81
2016
Nancy Lee Harris, BA ’65, MD ’70
Gary K. Steinberg, PhD ’79, MD ’80
2017
Diana W. Bianchi, MD '80
Max S. Wicha, MD '74
2018
Lori A. Alvord, MD ’85, Resident ’91
Michael A. Caligiuri, MS ’81, MD ’83
2019
Charles A. Czeisler, PhD ’78, MD ’81
Michael Rutledge DeBaun MD ’87, MS ’87
2021
Karl Deisseroth, PhD ’98, MD ’00
D. Craig Miller, MD ’72
2022
Sharon Hunt, MD ’72
Yvonne A. Maldonado, MD ’81
2023
George Demetri, MD '83
Robert C. Malenka, PhD ’82, MD ’83
2024
Michael P. Link, MD '74
Edward B. Stinson, ’60, MD ’65