MCW Armand J. Quick Award for Outstanding Senior Medical Students in Biochemistry

About Dr. Armand J. Quick
The Quick Award

About Dr. Armand J. Quick

Armand J. Quick, MD, PhD, was an internationally recognized physician scientist who contributed substantially to our knowledge about basic mechanisms of blood clotting and techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhagic disorders. He is famous for developing a widely used blood clotting assay now known as the Quick Prothrombin Test. Dr. Quick was chair of the MCW Biochemistry Department from 1944 to 1964, during which he continued his research related to blood clotting disorders.

The Quick Award

The Armand J. Quick Award was established by the MCW Biochemistry Department to honor outstanding graduating MD and MD/PhD students at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who have outstanding accomplishments in their course work as well as a biomedically-related research project during medical school to test a hypothesis using biochemical and molecular/cellular approaches and has a continuing interest for biomedical research along their career path. As a tribute to Dr. Quick, these students are encouraged to maintain an ongoing interest in being involved with biochemical/biomedical research in their future careers.

Award recipients are recognized at graduation, and at a special yearly reception given by the Biochemistry Department. Awardees are placed on the Armand J. Quick Award plaque, which is kept in the Biochemistry Department at MCW. They also receive a copy of the Quick Tests book for their personal library, a certificate of achievement and an honorarium of $500 at the Senior Dinner.

The Quick Award application process generally begins in mid-January. If you would like to apply for this award at that time, please contact Michele Jones in the Biochemistry office at mljones@mcw.edu. You'll need to submit the following application information for review by the Armand J. Quick Committee of the Biochemistry Department:

• A current curriculum vitae

• A one-page synopsis of your past research accomplishments and your future plans

• A letter of recommendation (LOR) from your research advisor(s) (The advisor will need to submit the LOR directly to the award committee via the e-mail address below. Any LOR sent by the student will not be accepted.)

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Armand J. Quick Award Current Recipients

Acacia Dishman, MD, PhD

Acacia (Caci) Dishman grew up in Dexter, Michigan. She received her bachelor’s degree in Biophysics with honors from the University of Michigan. She joined the MCW Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) in 2015.

Caci completed her PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Brian Volkman in the biochemistry department at MCW in 2021. Her dissertation research focused on metamorphic proteins, a family of proteins that switch between multiple, distinct structures with different functions. She resurrected ancient proteins in the lab, discovering mechanisms by which proteins evolve to become metamorphic, and published her results in Science. She also studied the antimicrobial properties of a metamorphic chemokine called XCL1. Additionally, she visited the laboratory of Dr. David Baker at the University of Washington for 7 months in 2020 to work on the design of fold-switching proteins. Her graduate work was funded by a 5-year NIH F30 fellowship. She published 6 first-author manuscripts during her graduate studies and gave 5 oral presentations at national and international meetings. In 2021 she returned to her MD training and she will graduate with her MD in 2023. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

After graduation from MCW, Caci will complete her residency in Radiation Oncology at Harvard. She intends to pursue a career as a physician scientist.

Logan Massman, MD

Logan was raised in Holmen, Wisconsin before attending the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities for his undergraduate studies, earning a Bachelors in Science in neuroscience cum laude. He continued his education at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) – Milwaukee Campus. At MCW, Logan completed his Masters in Clinical and Translational Research. He studied the role of O-GlcNAcylation and transcriptomic changes in pituitary adenoma pathology under the direction of Dr. Stéphanie Olivier-Van Stichelen and Dr. Nathan Zwagerman. This work identified, for the first time, the role of O-GlcNAcylation in stabilizing Pomc transcripts in pituitary adenomas and was published in the journal Endocrinology. His work also identified myriad novel markers for pituitary adenoma subtypes and correlates with pituitary adenoma aggressiveness. This work has earned a podium presentation at an international meeting and will be submitted for publication as well.

Logan will graduate from MCW with an MD with Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Society recognition along with his MS in Clinical and Translational Research. He will be training in the Thomas Jefferson University Neurological Surgery Program where he aims to pursue a career as a surgeon-scientist.

2001-Present Recipients

2023 - Acacia Dishman, MD, PhD and Logan Massman, MD
2022 - Casey Vickstrom, MD, PhD and Michael Nordness, MD, PhD
2021 - Andrew Kleist, MD, PhD and Jamie Schnuck, MD, and Michael Olp, MD, PhD
2020 – Daniel Keesler, MD and James Miller, MD, PhD
2019 – Steven M. Blinka, MD, PhD and Nicholas P. Gannon, MD
2018 – Erin M. Kropp, MD, PhD and Zachary R. Shaheen, MD, PhD
2017 – Brennan Decker, MD, PhD and Anna K. Park, MD
2016 – Tarin Bigley, MD, PhD and Jacob M. Wilson, MD
2015 – Erica Schmitt, MD, PhD and Ben Biesterveld, MD
2014 – Tyce Kearl MD, PhD and Wasakorn Kittipongdaja, MD
2013 – Krista Asp, MD
2012 – Jamie R. Privratsky, MD, PhD and Kevin M. Riggle, MD
2011 – Lance M. Relland, MD, PhD and Cheryl J. Maenpaa, MD
2010 – Jonathan M. Skarie, MD, PhD and Corbin D. Sullivan, MD
2009 – Brandon T. Larsen, MD, PhD and Christopher R. Henry, MD
2008 – Andrea B. French, MD
2007 – Sakkapol Ongwijitwat, MD, PhD and Joseph P. Roche, MD
2006 – Sachin Patel, MD, PhD and Michael D. Roseblum, MD, PhD
2005 – Timothy J. Nelson, MD, PhD
2004 – Matthew J. Riese, MD, PhD and Brooke A. King, MD
2003 – Brent L. Fogel, MD, PhD and Andrew E. Trochlell, MD
2002 – Jason A. Jarzembowski, MD, PhD
2001 – Jonathan M. Bock, MD and Anand Krishnan Ganesan, MD, PhD

1982-2000 Recipients

2000 – Stacey A. Strege-Sjoberg, MD, PhD and Robert E. Sonnenburg, MD
1999 – David Potter, MD, PhD
1998 – Heather A. Stanko, MD
1997 – Richard J. Gumina, MD, PhD
1996 – Cathleen M. McCabe, MD
1995 – Grace Levy-Clarke, MD
1994 – Paul W. Hruz, MD, PhD
1993 – Gerald P. Loushin, MD
1992 – David K. Gaffney, MD, PhD
1991 – James P. Thomas, MD, PhD
1990 – John Caton, MD
1989 – Bert G. Tardieu, MD
1988 – Barry J. Roseman, MD
1987 – James P. Witter, MD, PhD
1986 – DuWayne Willett, MD
1985 – Jon R. Resar, MD
1984 – Mark L. Kadden, MD
1983 – Mark I. Freedman, MD
1982 – Carol Anne Popp, MD, PhD