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The Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors® (PMAR) is pleased to announce Brian Druker, MD, director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research at Oregon Health & Science University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, as the recipient of the 2010 Portland First Citizen Award. Dr. Druker will be recognized at the annual Portland First Citizen Banquet, scheduled for April 21, 2010 at the Governor Hotel, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. 

Dr. Druker specializes in treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). As a young oncologist, he wrote to the families of patients who died, promising to find a cure. At that time, only 50% of patients diagnosed with this particular form of cancer survived the disease. In collaboration with Novartis, Dr. Druker led the way to develop Gleevec, a drug that revolutionized the way cancer is treated by zeroing in on specific cancer-causing molecules, thereby avoiding serious damage to other, non-cancerous cells. In 2001, Gleevec was approved by the FDA for treatment of CML. Since then, Gleevec has been approved for use in pediatric patients with CML, the first FDA approved cancer drug treatment in more than a decade. Today, 90% of patients diagnosed with CML survive. In addition, Gleevec has been approved by the FDA to treat six other cancers. 

Dr. Druker joined OHSU in 1993, excited at the chance to help patients while developing better cancer treatments. He received his M.D. from the University of California School of Medicine at San Diego, completed his residency in internal medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and did an oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School. 

For his work in the development of Gleevec, Dr. Druker has received numerous awards, the most recent of which is the 2009 Lasker-DeBakey Award for Clinical Medical Research. Established in 1945 by Albert and Mary Woodward Lasker, the Lasker Awards are sometimes called “America’s Nobel”; many winners have later received the Nobel Prize. Dr. Druker has received the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Pioneer of Survivorship Carpe Diem Award, the Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society, and many other honors. His greatest daily reward is “seeing patients in the clinic who have benefited from my work.” 

The Portland First Citizen Award was created in 1928 by the Portland Realty Board (now PMAR) to honor civic achievements and business leadership within the community. Considered one of Portland’s most prestigious awards, the individuals who have received it form an honor roll of the city’s most prominent leaders during the last eight decades. 

The Portland First Citizen banquet sponsors include The Oregonian and the Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS™). Advance registration for the event is required. For tickets or event information, call PMAR at 503-459-2152. In addition to the Portland First Citizen Award, two other awards will be presented at the banquet. The Portland Future First Citizen Award recognizes a high school student in the Portland metropolitan area who is a model of civic responsibility. The PMAR Good Neighbor Award will be awarded to a Realtor® member who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to improving the quality of life in his community. 

Past Portland First Citizens 

1928	Ben Selling	1969	Homer T. Shaver
1929	J. C. Ainsworth	1970	Judge Gus J. Solomon
1930	Aaron M. Frank	1971	Glenn Jackson
1931	Henry B. Van Duzer	1972	Ira C. Keller
1932	Raymond B. Wilcox	1973	Howard Vollum
1933	George L. Baker	1974	William E. Roberts
1934	Hopkin Jenkins	1975	Fred G. Meyer
1935	Edward C. Sammons	1976	Larry Hilaire
1936	Arthur L. Fields	1977	Louis B. Perry
1937	Richard B. Dillehunt, M.D.	1978	Edith Green
1938	Franklin T. Griffith	1979	David Edwin Abram
1939	Charles H. Martin	1980	William Swindells, Sr.
1940	Ross McIntyre	1981	Judge Harlow F. Lenon
1941	Mrs. Thomas D. Honeyman	1982	Samuel T. Naito & William S. Naito
1942	Edgar F. Kaiser	1983	Carl M. Halvorson
1943	Portland Service Men/Women	1984	Bishop Paul D. Waldschmidt
1944	Mrs. C.S. Jackson	1985	John Piacentini
1945	Theodore R. Gamble	1986	Dr. Albert Starr
1946	Chester A. Moores	1987	Robert L. Ridgley
1947	Sid Woodbury	1988	Don C. Frisbee
1948	Hillman Lueddemann	1989	Melvin 'Pete' Mark
1949	Thomas Harry Banfield	1990	Harry L. Demorest
1950	David B. Simpson	1991	Dr. Matthew W. Prophet, Jr.
1951	Frank Erwin McCaslin	1992	Harry Glickman
1952	Edgar William Smith	1993	John 'Jack' Faust
1953	C.B. Stephenson	1994	Maestro Jacob Avshalomov
1954	Ben H. Hazen	1995	Harold & Arlene Schnitzer
1955	Dr. Morgan S. Odell	1996	Fred A. Stickel
1956	Harold Fox Wendell	1997	Neil Goldschmidt
1957	Rt. Rev. Benjamin Dagwell	1998	Brian & Gwyneth Booth
1958	William Bruce Boone	1999	Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr.
1959	Paul Boole McKee	2000	Peter E. Jacobsen
1960	Dr. Leo Sherman Lucas	2002	Senator Mark O. Hatfield
1961	Dr. Samuel Latta Diack	2003	Tony L. Hopson, Sr.
1962	Truman Wesley Collins	2004	Dan Wieden
1963	Judge Donald E. Long	2005	Gert Boyle
1964	Charles R. Holloway, Jr.	2006	Jack McGowan
1965	Aubrey R. Watzek	2007	Peggy Fowler
1966	Mrs. S. Mason Ehrman	2008	Joe Weston
1967	John M. Fulton	2009	Bill Schonely
1968	John D. Gray