1994 Outstanding Contributions in a Selected Area of Research
Ronald J. Elin will receive the 22nd annual award, sponsored by Roche Diagnostics.
Elin’s interest in chemistry began at the age of 10, when he received a chemistry set as a gift. This interest was further encouraged by his 11th grade chemistry teacher. When Elin had to choose between taking a test in chemistry or participating in a football scrimmage, he chose the chemistry test.
Elin received a liberal arts degree from the University of Minnesota, with a minor in chemistry, and subsequently received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. During this time he also completed a residency in anatomic pathology. He moved to the University Hospital of San Diego in 1970, where he completed an internship in internal medicine. In 1973 he became a staff associate at the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD. That same year, he began residency training in clinical pathology at the National Institutes of Health, where he has been Chief of the Clinical Pathology Department since 1975 and the Chief of the Clinical Chemistry Service within that Department since 1977. Elin is also a clinical professor of pathology at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences.
This award recognizes Elin’s research interest in magnesium, which began when he was selecting a topic for his Ph.D. thesis and found an apparent lack of knowledge and understanding of this element. Elin has maintained an interest in the disorders of magnesium since that time. In 1978 he initiated, and was the first Chairman of, the Gordon Research Conferences on “Magnesium in Biochemical Processes and Medicine.”
Elin has published more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals, more than 200 abstracts, and more than 16 book chapters; many of these publications relate to his work on magnesium.
Elin is a member of the the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (formerly AACC) Board of Directors (1993–present) and was general chairman of the 1991 National Meeting. He is on the Board of Editors of Clinical Chemistry (1986–present) and is a member of the Executive Committee, Board of Editors (1990–present). Elin served on the Arnold O. Beckman Conference Committee (1988–1993), chairing it in 1987–1988. He has held editorial board appointments on several other journals, including American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Magnesium: Experimental and Clinical Research, and Trace Elements in Medicine.