Beverly Mitchell’s colleagues write that she is “arguably the world’s leading researcher in biochemical pharmacology of nucleotides. There are many excellent faculty in clinical departments who achieve some repute in both science and medicine, but Beverly Mitchell is that rarity who has reached the pinnacles both as a physician and basic scientist, and she has also fused her distinct talents to help provide remarkable new treatments for leukemia. Her research has had an impact on the entire national cancer program.”

Her awards are numerous, including her 2001 election to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine; the Leukemia Society of America’s Stohlman Award in 1988; the H. Marvin Pollard Award for Outstanding Resident Teaching in 1983; the University of Michigan Department of Medicine’s Jerome W. Conn Award for Excellence in Research, 1979; and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Investigator Award from 1978 to 1981.

Mitchell was professor of medicine and pharmacology, and the Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research and associate director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine She served as president of the American Society of Hematology, as worldwide organization of approximately 20,000. She continues to serve the organization to help focus young investigators on patient-oriented research in Hematology.

Her reputation as a truly outstanding educator is legendary: she has trained a continuous succession of outstanding young physician-scientists and superb clinicians who have held her up as their primary role model. Her students describe her as “brilliant, down-to-earth, insightful, a creative and inspirational mentor, and a role model for those of us trying to balance teaching, research, patient care, and healthy families…. She treats everyone she works with – whether first-year medical students, visiting scholars, patients, or support staff – as if they are old family friends.”