Steven Paul honored with Tulane Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award at Tulane University School of Medicine is only available to the 50-year graduating class. As a member of the Class of 1975, Steven Paul filled the last half century with an extraordinary list of achievements: medical researcher, drug pioneer, entrepreneur and professor. Paul now joins the prestigious list of Lifetime Achievement Award winners.

“Steve is a true giant in the Tulane community, and in the field of medicine as a whole,” said Tulane University President Michael A. Fitts. “His work at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Eli Lilly, and his longtime support of Tulane bridges the divide between academia and industry.”

Paul spent 18 years at the NIH, where he was a laboratory chief and the scientific director of the National Institute of Mental Health. He went on to work for 17 years at the leading pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, where he held several key leadership roles including executive vice president for science and technology and president of the Lilly Research laboratories.

Following his career at Lilly, Paul charted a new course in biotechnology, focusing on bringing life-changing and life-saving new therapies to market. He co-founded five biotech companies, four of which have gone public, mostly focused on central nervous system disorders. Over the last 10 years, Paul’s companies have launched two new breakthrough medicines, and he continues to work on new medicines for treating mood and anxiety disorders, as well as Alzheimer’s.

Paul is also a prolific academic who has authored nearly 600 papers and book chapters. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Currently a professor of psychiatry at Washington University St. Louis School of Medicine, Paul is also a major supporter of Tulane. He currently serves on the Board of Tulane, the School of Science & Engineering Board of Advisors and the university’s National Campaign Council. He previously served on the Dean’s Councils for Medicine and Liberal Arts. He and his wife Jann also provided the lead gift for the Steven and Jann Paul Hall, which opened last year as the new state-of-the-art home for the Tulane School of  Science and Engineering.
 

At the gift’s announcement Fitts said, “Dr. Paul is the embodiment of the intellectual entrepreneur. When I think about the vision for Tulane’s future, his career — located at the intersection of health, medicine, science and business — is the epitome of our direction. He understands the promise of Tulane and, in giving back, is helping to ensure we remain home to innovative discovery and creative exploration.”