A few years ago, Dr. Gerd Assmann and colleagues developed a score for estimating coronary risk. This score was derived from the 10-year follow-up data of the PROspective CArdiovascular Münster (PROCAM) study. While this score has been widely used, particularly in Europe, it was of limited use to women and men above 65 years of age. For this reason, Dr. Assmann and collaborators developed a modified scoring scheme to estimate the risk of acute coronary events among women, men, and elderly men. They also created a new scoring system for calculating the risk of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack. Both of these new PROCAM risk scores provide simple and effective tools to assess the risk of acute coronary events and ischemic stroke in the general population and will improve the ability of physicians to target measures in order to prevent these potentially devastating conditions. In recognition of his numerous outstanding contributions and their role in enhancing understanding of metabolic diseases, Dr. Assmann recently received the prestigious G. B. Morgagni Gold Medal during the Ninth European Symposium on Metabolism held in Padua, Italy, in October 2006.
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