Nearly seven dozen UT Southwestern employees will be honored at a June 13 luncheon hosted by President Daniel K. Podolsky, M.D., in recognition of their service as part of the Medical Center’s annual Employee Recognition Week celebration.

At the event, 83 staff members are invited to commemorate their achievement of an impressive 25, 30, 35, 40, or 45 years of UT System work. Forty-nine of these honorees are joining the Quarter Century Club this year, meaning they have amassed 25 years working for either UTSW or partner institutions.

The luncheon keynote speaker will be Eric Olson, Ph.D., founding Chair of Molecular Biology, who will describe the life-changing decision that brought him to UT Southwestern nearly three decades ago.

“UT Southwestern has a remarkable track record in basic science, clinical research, patient care, and education. I believe the strides I’ve witnessed at the University during my time here grew from a unique vision of the ways that research and education can seamlessly combine to strengthen both endeavors,” Dr. Olson said.

Formerly the Chair of Biochemistry at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Olson had already accepted a job elsewhere when the University’s first two Nobel Laureates – Michael Brown, M.D., and Joseph Goldstein, M.D. – recruited him to UT Southwestern to become Chair of the new Department of Molecular Biology in 1995.

Dr. Olson also directs the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine and the Senator Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center. His most recent work has provided a new strategy for correcting Duchenne muscular dystrophy (in mouse models) using CRISPR gene editing.

Discoveries by Dr. Olson’s team at the interface of developmental biology and medicine have illuminated fundamental principles of tissue formation and have provided new concepts in the quest for muscle and cardiovascular therapeutics. In addition, Dr. Olson has co-founded multiple biotechnology companies to develop therapies for heart and muscle disease.

Many of Dr. Olson’s trainees have emerged as the next generation of leaders in cardiovascular medicine around the world. In 2016, he was recognized with the Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award, one of the highest honors presented by the American Heart Association, for his mentorship of future scientists and physicians.

Dr. Olson earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Wake Forest University. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, Dr. Olson has won many other prestigious awards, including the 2012 Passano Award, presented to a U.S. scientist for exemplary research with real-world implications for clinical treatment.

Outside of work, he plays guitar and harmonica with The Transactivators, a rock band he founded with UTSW colleagues. He has also performed with Willie Nelson, the Texas troubadour and country music legend who created the Professorship that helps support Dr. Olson’s research.