Previous Recipients

Dr. Blackburn, the Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology at the University of California San Francisco, is world-renowned for her groundbreaking discovery of the enzyme telomerase. Her studies demonstrated this enzyme fortifies telomeres–the simple DNA sequences that repeat over and over and constitute “the bookends at the end of chromosomes that hold everything in place.” Her subsequent studies have shown that the enzyme plays a significant role in cellular aging and may help to unravel the mysteries of a variety of diseases from cancer to chronic stress disorders.

Dr. Steitz, the Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University, is similarly revered in scientific circles for her pioneering work in RNA. She is best known for discovering and defining the function of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) in pre-messenger RNA. She was the first to learn that these cellular complexes (snRNPs) play a key role in recognizing and eliminating introns. Many scientists believe that Dr. Steitz’ research may ultimately lead to breakthroughs in treating autoimmune diseases including lupus.

Both scientists have been honored with numerous previous awards and honors. Dr. Blackburn’s recognitions include, the prestigious Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the National Academy of Science Award in Molecular Biology. Dr. Steitz was honored with, among others, the National Medal of Science and the Rosalind E. Franklin Award for Women in Science of the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Blackburn earned her BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and her PhD from the University of Cambridge in England. She did her postdoctoral work in molecular and cellular biology at Yale. She was on the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley in the department of molecular biology. Dr. Blackburn is currently a professor in the department of biochemistry and biophysics at UC San Francisco. She is also a Non-Resident Fellow of the Salk Institute. In 2007, Dr. Blackburn was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Dr. Steiz started her career as a graduate student at Harvard. After completing post-doctoral work at the Medical Research Council Lab of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, she joined the department of molecular physics and biochemistry at Yale. She also was the Josiah Macy Scholar at the Max Planck Institut fur Biophysikalische Chemie in Gottingen, Germany and at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. In addition, she was the Fairchild Distinguished Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She served as chair of the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale and currently serves as the Sterling Professor there.

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Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz

Dr. Solomon H. Snyder

Ronald M. Evans, PhD

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The 2006 Albany Medical Center Prize was awarded to Seymour Benzer, PhD, a neuroscientist, molecular biologist and physicist who uncovered genetic links to behavior in fruit flies that today serve as the foundation for the study and treatment of human neurological diseases. Through Dr. Benzer's research, the fruit fly proved to be a model organism for the study of neurological disease, due to the remarkable degree of similarity between the fly and human genomes.

His seminal discoveries, which ran counter to the prevailing theory in the 1960's that environment was the primary factor in shaping human behavior, profoundly influenced a generation of scientists who, along with Dr. Benzer, identified the genetic basis for differences in circadian rhythm, courtship, learning and memory in fruit flies. Heralded by the scientific community as the "father of neurogenetics," Dr. Benzer's pioneering work opened the field to exploration of models for specific neurodegenerative diseases of the human brain such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's chorea, Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease).

Dr. Benzer was born in the Bronx in 1921, and moved to the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn at age 4. He received his BS in physics from Brooklyn College, and his master's degree and PhD in physics from Purdue University. From 1947 to 1965, he was on the faculty at Purdue University, where his molecular biology work was done. His neurogenetics period began in 1965, upon moving to Caltech, where he led a highly-respected research group until his passing in November of 2007.

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The 2005 Albany Medical Center Prize was awarded to Dr. Robert S. Langer, a chemical engineer by trade whose groundbreaking research with polymers - or plastics - revolutionized the field of drug delivery systems and helped spawn the entire new field of tissue engineering. Langer's groundbreaking research on polymer-based drug delivery systems allowed clinicians to control the release of large molecules in a slow, steady and controlled manner. Prior to Langer's discovery, many large molecules could not be used therapeutically because they could not be given orally nor could they be delivered via injection since the body's enzymes attacked and destroyed them. The practical application of Langer's work has led to the development of an array of plastic devices that are surgically implanted to deliver medicines and hormones in precisely regulated amounts over long periods of time, including the polymer-coated, drug-eluting stent that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2003 for use in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Other well-known applications include the development of a controlled-release system that was approved for use with a large molecule peptide drug that combats advanced prostate cancer, endometriosis and other diseases in more than 300,000 patients each year.

Langer's work with polymers has also led to the development of artificial skin which is used in the treatment of burn patients, and bone and cartilage which are in clinical trials. Langer's research is credited with paving the way for the advent of a radical new discipline called tissue engineering, which scientists hope will one day obviate the need for donor organs.

Langer is the author of more than 800 scholarly papers, has over 500 issued or pending patents, and his research has spawned more than a dozen biotech firms. He served as a member of the United States Food and Drug Administration's SCIENCE Board, the FDA's highest advisory board, from 1995-2002 and as its Chairman from 1999-2002. Parade magazine had selected Langer as one of six heroes whose research may save your life, while Time magazine named him one of the 100 most important people in America.research group until his passing in November of 2007.

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The 2004 Albany Medical Center Prize was awarded to Dr. Stanley N. Cohen and Herbert W. Boyer, PhD, two pioneering scientists whose seminal research discovering recombinant DNA - more commonly known as gene cloning - paved the way for the modern biotechnology industry.  Cohen and Boyer were selected for the Albany Medical Center Prize for their groundbreaking research that allowed scientists to isolate and clone genes in living cells, their discovery that genes could be propagated and expressed in biological species other than the natural host, and their subsequent contributions to biomedical research stemming from these discoveries. The practical application of their combined research has led to the development of a multitude of critical vaccines and life-saving drugs including human insulin for the treatment of diabetes, a clot-dissolving agent for stroke and heart attack victims, a human growth hormone for underdeveloped children, and interferon for cancer patients. Most recently, their work has served as the basis for elucidating new therapies and diagnostics for HIV and SARS by allowing scientists and researchers to isolate and study the genes of these deadly viruses.

Cohen, who currently holds an endowed professorship at Stanford University, has authored more than 300 scientific publications and is former Chairman of the Department of Genetics at Stanford. Boyer is professor emeritus of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco, and co-founder of Genentech, Inc., the San Francisco-based biotechnology company he started in 1976. He has written or co-written more than 100 scientific articles and is former director of the University's graduate program in genetics.

The 2003 Albany Medical Center Prize was awarded to this pair of pioneering researchers whose studies of cholesterol have served as the foundation for the development of life-saving, cholesterol lowering drugs used by millions of people worldwide. Drs. Brown and Goldstein received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1985 for elucidating the cause of familial hypercholesterolemia and discovering the low-density lipoprotein receptor. The Albany Medical Center Prize recognized the scientific duo for their post-Nobel contributions pertaining to how a family of proteins regulates cholesterol synthesis by specifically controlling the LDL receptors, which play a key role in cholesterol build-up. Additionally, the Prize recognized their most recent research into the discovery of an insulin-sensitive regulator, which offers tremendous promise in the field of drug therapy for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, judges pointed out that the work of Brown and Goldstein over the past 18 years may help unravel the cause of a degenerative retinal disease that leads to blindness in teenage boys. In addition, current Phase 3 clinical drug trials, using farnesyl transferase inhibitors, stem from their research into oncogenic Ras proteins, which are linked to a large number of human cancers, including cancers of the colon and pancreas.

Brown and Goldstein have published more than 400 scientific papers that have helped unravel the mystery behind elevated cholesterol levels in the bloodstream. Brown currently holds the position of Regental Professor of Medicine and Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and director of the Erik Jonsson Center for Molecular Genetics and Human Disease at the same institution. Goldstein is chairman of the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Regental Professor of Medicine and Genetics at the same institution.

The 2002 Albany Medical Center Prize was awarded to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a pioneering AIDS researcher and scientific leader. For more than three decades, Fauci has been one of the world's leading clinicians and researchers on the pathogenesis and treatment of immune-mediated diseases, including AIDS. The Albany Medical Center Prize recognized Fauci for his seminal contributions in helping researchers understand how the AIDS virus destroys the body's defenses, for his groundbreaking work in developing effective therapies for several once fatal rheumatic diseases, for his current efforts in spearheading the drive for vaccines to prevent the HIV virus, smallpox, anthrax and the Ebola virus, and for his overall scientific leadership and public service.

Throughout his distinguished scientific career, Fauci has authored, co-authored and edited more than 1,000 scientific publications, including several textbooks. who serves as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH He also has received numerous prestigious awards for his scientific accomplishments, including 22 honorary doctorate degrees from universities in the United States and abroad.

The inaugural Albany Medical Center Prize was awarded to Dr. Arnold J. Levine, who co-discovered the p53 protein, described as perhaps the most important tumor suppressor gene in human cancer.  The Prize recognized Levine for his seminal findings and for his ongoing research on p53, and its promise of unlocking the mysteries of cancer. Since his initial finding, Levine has played an important leadership role in stimulating widespread cancer research that brings us to the threshold of understanding and treating cancer in many of its most insidious forms.

Levine is former President of Rockefeller University in New York.  In 1996, he served as a chairman of an independent review panel on federal AIDS research funding and has played a powerful role in shaping the nation's science priorities during his distinguished scientific career.