Spotlight on medicine: Lundquist Institute Legends 2023 Research with Reach
Photos by Tony LaBruno
This year’s Lundquist Institute Legends were recognized during an awards dinner on December 7 at the Westdrift Hotel in Manhattan Beach. This year’s Legends are Yutaka Niihara MD, Eric Daar MD, and Matthew Budoff MD who were recognized for their “distinguished service to the Lundquist Institute, Harbor-UCLA and beyond.” Dr. Niihara is a Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Emmaus Life Science. His research into treatments for sickle cell disease led to the development of L-glutamine therapy, which was approved by the FDA in 2017. His laboratory focuses on regenerative medicine. Dr. Daar is the Interim Chair for the Dept. of Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. His focus is on management and therapy for HIV infections and its immunopathogenesis. Dr. Budoff’s research is devoted to advancing procedures for early identification of patients who are at high-risk for cardiac events. He serves as Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. It was an evening not to be missed.