BREMEN, GERMANY, November 04, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Elizabeth Anne Valentine-Thon with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Valentine-Thon celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Having accrued a laudable reputation as a biologist, Dr. Valentine-Thon is presently an adjunct professor of virology and technical English at the School of Medical Technology and Radiology in Bremen, Germany. Active in her role since 2015, she formerly served in the same capacity on campus between 1990 and 2009. In addition, since 2016 she has been teaching all levels of English at the language school ELKA in Bremen. Affiliated with several prominent national and international industry organizations as a commitment to her field, Dr. Valentine-Thon is a member of, among others, the American Society of Microbiology, the International Committee of Jackson Laboratory, and the scientific board of the European Academy for Environmental Medicine (EUROPAEM). Since 2015, she has been an active volunteer in the Tracing Service of the German Red Cross.
Leading a long and tenured career that began in 1968, Dr. Valentine-Thon was initially hired as a laboratory technician at Mason Research Institute in Worcester, MA. After acquiring her undergraduate degree in 1971, she traveled to Germany where she planned to spend only one year abroad so that she could return to the U.S. to pursue a medical degree. However, on her first day of work at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg (it happened to be Valentine's Day!), Dr. Valentine-Thon met the German physician who would later become her husband.
Altering her plans completely, Dr. Valentine-Thon worked for a total of three years at the DKFZ and simultaneously earned an additional degree at Boston University in Heidelberg. From 1975 to 1976 she worked with Prof. Fritz Bach at the Immunobiology Research Center in Madison, WI, and in December 1976 received the first Master of Science degree in immunobiology ever granted by the University of Wisconsin. After returning to Germany, she worked as a research associate for Prof. Eberhard Passarge at the Institute of Human Genetics in Essen, where much of her work was supported by grants from the German National Research Association (DFG). In 1985 she received a PhD in biology from the University of Essen. Throughout the course of her subsequent career, she established herself in the field and eventually garnered leading roles at the State Hygiene Institute of Bremen (1987-1989), where she developed the first PCR test for hepatitis B in Bremen, the Dr. Shiwara Practice of Laboratory Medicine in Bremen as the head of the molecular diagnostics department (1990-2001), and the Laboratory Center of Bremen (2002-2009) as the head of both the MELISA (LTT) Center and the department of immunology. At the end of 2009, Dr. Valentine-Thon returned to the U.S., where she contributed for another six years as the general manager of the Health Diagnostics and Research Institute in South Amboy, New Jersey, before semi-retiring in late 2014.
Apart from her full-time commitments in Bremen, Dr. Valentine-Thon taught immunology, virology, molecular biology, and technical English at the School of Medical Technology as well as basic and advanced immunology at the University of Bremen. In 1994, she organized and taught a Summer School on PCR and Infectious Diseases at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, with the support of a grant issued by the German Academic Exchange Commission (DAAD). During her stay, Dr. Valentine-Thon delighted in learning of the science and culture of Uganda, including a trek through the rainforest to observe the rare mountain gorillas. She also had the unique opportunity to visit a local community in East Uganda, where she met the young boy whom she had been supporting through the ChildFund International since 1990. From 1997 to 2001 she served as the German representative in the European Union Concerted Action for Quality Control of Nucleic Acid Analysis in Diagnostic Virology. She co-edited the Neuroendocrinology Letters special issue "Toxic Metals as a Key Factor in Disease" in 2006, and in 2007 organized the international 13th MELISA Study Group Meeting: The Emerging Role of Metals in Chronic Disease, held at the World Trade Center in Bremen. For over 10 years, she was actively involved in the German American Club of Bremen, serving as its secretary and later its vice-president.
Dr. Valentine-Thon has translated various published works from German to English, for example "The HLA System" in 1991, "Historical Gems of Bremen's Schnoor" in 2014, EUROPAEM's e-learning course "Clinical Environmental Medicine" in 2015, and "The World's Only International Kale Cookbook" in 2018. Additionally, she contributed a myriad of articles (over 60) to various professional journals in her several areas of expertise. Her career and associated travel took her to over 50 countries, where she held nearly 100 lectures at scientific conferences and seminars.
Splitting her time between the U.S. and Germany has been both rewarding and challenging for Dr. Valentine-Thon. Political, educational, cultural, social, linguistic, and philosophical differences large and small have chiseled her into a bilingual, bi-continental world citizen. Despite the challenges, Dr. Valentine-Thon has made several significant advances in her field, most notably developing and validating molecular diagnostic tests for clinical application prior to the availability of commercial test kits and contributing a unique in vitro test for detecting and monitoring active Lyme disease in patients.
Inspired by a lead article in LIFE Magazine, Dr. Valentine-Thon became fascinated at age 14 by the structure and function of DNA and subsequently developed a passion for the field of biology, which has defined her professional and academic life. After graduating from high school as class valedictorian, she was accepted with a full-tuition scholarship to Anna Maria College in Paxton, MA, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in biology and chemistry (magna cum laude) in 1971. Dr. Valentine-Thon subsequently received a Master of Education at Boston University in Heidelberg in 1974, followed by a Master of Science in immunobiology at the University of Wisconsin in 1976 and a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Essen in Germany in 1985.
Dr. Valentine-Thon is the proud mother of one son and grandmother of two grandchildren.
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