Jack E. Lemons, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, has been named the 2005 recipient of the W. T. Cavanaugh Memorial Award, and an honorary member, for his "outstanding and distinguished leadership in promoting national and international standards for medical/surgical implants and materials."

The W.T. Cavanaugh award honors people of widely recognized eminence in the voluntary standards system. This award, established in 1987, honors W. T. Cavanaugh, who firmly established ASTM International as the world leader in the development and dissemination of voluntary consensus standards during his service as chief executive officer from 1970 until his death in 1985.

An ASTM International member since 1974, Lemons participates in the standards work of ASTM Committee F04 on Medical and Surgical Materials and Devices. He is currently chair of F04.93, the U.S. Technical Advisory Group for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 150 - Implants for Surgery, where he been active in promoting ASTM standards for international use.

Lemons has served as chairman of the F04 main committee, a 650-member group that has jurisdiction over more than 165 standards. During his chairmanship, the committee enlarged its focus from traditional metals, plastics, and devices to include new tissue replacement and repair materials, biologics, and devices. He also served as chair of the F04 ceramics section for many years, overseeing standards work related to porous and granular ceramic forms as they gained in usage in dentistry and orthopaedic surgery.

For his leadership and contributions to standards activities, Lemons has been honored with the ASTM Award of Merit and the accompanying title of fellow; he has also been given the Committee F04 Patrick Laing Award and the 2000 Robert F. Painter Award from ASTM and the Standards Engineering Society.

Lemons is a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, with a primary appointment in the Department of Prosthodontics in the School of Dentistry; plus secondary appointments in the Department of Surgery (Division of Orthopaedic Surgery) in the School of Medicine; and the Department of Biomedical and Materials Engineering in the College of Engineering. His work focuses on five major research areas: mechanical testing of devices, biodegradable ceramics, tissue implant interface interactions, material biocompatibility, and in vivo corrosion. He has published more than 200 papers in refereed journals and given many scientific presentations.

Outside ASTM International, Lemons is a fellow of the American Society for Metals and of the Society for Biomaterials; he is also a member of a number of other professional organizations and serves on many editorial boards. Lemons earned his B.S. in metallurgy and materials engineering, his M.S. in metallurgy and solid state physics, and his Ph.D. in metallurgy, solid state physics, and chemistry at the University of Florida.

 

Release #7152