Lasker Award

In 1945 Albert Lasker and Mary Woodard Lasker created the Lasker Awards. Every year since then the award has been given to the living person considered to have made the greatest contribution to medical science or who has demonstrated public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation. The Lasker is sometimes referred to as "America's Nobels".

Lasker Award
President Lyndon Johnson accepting the special Albert Lasker Award for Leadership in Health
Awarded for	Major contributions to medical science
Sponsored by	Lasker Foundation
Date	1945
Reward(s)	$250,000
Highlights
Basic (2024)	Zhijian Chen
Clinical (2024)	Joel Habener, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, Svetlana Mojsov
Public Service (2024)	Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Salim S. Abdool Karim
Website	laskerfoundation.org

The Lasker Awards have gained a reputation for identifying future winners of the Nobel Prize. Eighty-six Lasker laureates have received the Nobel Prize, including 32 in the last two decades.^[1][2] Claire Pomeroy is the current president of the Lasker Foundation.

Award

The award is given in four branches of medical science:^[1]

1. Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
2. Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
3. Lasker–Bloomberg Public Service Award (Renamed in 2011 from Mary Woodard Lasker Public Service Award. Renamed in 2000 from Albert Lasker Public Service Award.)
4. Lasker–Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science (1994– renamed to that name in 2008) (optional)

The awards carry an honorarium of $250,000 for each category.^[3]

A collection of papers from the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation were donated to the National Library of Medicine by Mrs. Albert D. Lasker in April 1985.^[4]

In addition to the main awards, there are historical awards that are no longer awarded.^[5]

Recent awards

Recent winners include the following:

Year	Award	Laureate(s)	Reason
2024	Basic	Zhijian Chen	cGAS enzyme that senses self and foreign DNA[6]
	Clinical	Joel Habener	GLP-1-based therapy for obesity[7]
		Lotte Bjerre Knudsen
		Svetlana Mojsov
	Public Service	Quarraisha Abdool Karim	Innovations in HIV prevention, treatment, and advocacy[8]
		Salim S. Abdool Karim
2023	Basic	Demis Hassabis	Creating AlphaFold, artificial intelligence program for protein structure prediction.[9]
		John M. Jumper
	Clinical	James G. Fujimoto	Inventing optical coherence tomography.[10]
		David Huang
		Eric A. Swanson
	Special Achievement	Piet Borst	A scientific career spanning 50 years, mentorship, and leadership[11]
2022	Basic	Richard O. Hynes	For discoveries concerning the integrins – key mediators of cell–matrix and cell–cell adhesion in physiology and disease.[12]
		Erkki Ruoslahti
		Timothy A. Springer
	Clinical	Yuk Ming Dennis Lo	For the discovery of fetal DNA in maternal blood, leading to noninvasive prenatal testing for Down syndrome.[13]
	Public Service	Lauren Gardner	For creating the Covid-19 Dashboard, which set a new standard for disseminating authoritative public health data in real time.[14]
2021	Basic	Karl Deisseroth	For the discovery of light-sensitive microbial proteins that can activate or silence individual brain cells which was integral in developing optogenetics – a revolutionary technique for neuroscience.[15]
		Peter Hegemann
		Dieter Oesterhelt
	Clinical	Katalin Karikó	For the discovery of a new therapeutic technology based on the modification of messenger RNA – enabling rapid development of highly effective Covid-19 vaccines.[16]
		Drew Weissman
	Special Achievement	David Baltimore	As one of the premier biomedical scientists of the last five decades, he is renowned for the breadth and beauty of his discoveries in virology, immunology, and cancer; for his academic leadership; for his mentorship of prominent scientists; and for his influence as a public advocate for science.[17]
2019	Basic	Max Dale Cooper	For their discovery of the two distinct classes of lymphocytes, B cells and T cells – a monumental achievement that provided the organizing principle of the adaptive immune system and launched the course of modern immunology.[18]
		Jacques Miller
	Clinical	H. Michael Shepard	For their invention of Herceptin, the first monoclonal antibody that blocks HER2, a cancer-causing protein, and for its development as a life-saving therapy for women with breast cancer.[19]
		Dennis J. Slamon
		Axel Ullrich
	Public Service	GAVI vaccination alliance	For providing sustained access to childhood vaccines around the globe, saving millions of lives, and for highlighting the power of immunization to prevent disease.[20]
2018	Basic	C. David Allis	For discoveries elucidating how gene expression is influenced by chemical modification of histones – the proteins that package DNA within chromosomes.
		Michael Grunstein
	Clinical	John B. Glen	For the discovery and development of propofol, a chemical whose rapid action and freedom from residual effects have made it the most widely used agent for induction of anesthesia in patients throughout the world.
	Special Achievement	Joan Argetsinger Steitz	For four decades of leadership in biomedical science – exemplified by pioneering discoveries in RNA biology, generous mentorship of budding scientists, and vigorous and passionate support of women in science.
2017	Basic	Michael N. Hall	For discoveries concerning the nutrient-activated TOR proteins and their central role in the metabolic control of cell growth.[21]
	Clinical	Douglas R. Lowy	For technological advances that enabled development of HPV vaccines for prevention of cervical cancer and other tumors caused by human papillomaviruses.
		John T. Schiller
	Public Service	Planned Parenthood	For providing essential health services and reproductive care to millions of women for more than a century.
2016	Basic	William G. Kaelin Jr.	For the discovery of the pathway by which cells from humans and most animals sense and adapt to changes in oxygen availability – a process essential for survival.[22]
		Peter J. Ratcliffe
		Gregg L. Semenza
	Clinical	Ralf F. W. Bartenschlager	For development of a system to study the replication of the virus that causes hepatitis C and for use of this system to revolutionize the treatment of this chronic, often lethal disease.[23]
		Charles M. Rice
		Michael J. Sofia
	Special Achievement	Bruce M. Alberts	For fundamental discoveries in DNA replication and protein biochemistry; for visionary leadership in directing national and international scientific organizations to better people’s lives; and for passionate dedication to improving education in science and mathematics.[24]
2015	Basic	Stephen J. Elledge	For discoveries concerning the DNA-damage response – a fundamental mechanism that protects the genomes of all living organisms.[25]
		Evelyn M. Witkin
	Clinical	James P. Allison	For the discovery and development of a monoclonal antibody therapy that unleashes the immune system to combat cancer.[26]
	Public Service	Médecins Sans Frontières	For bold leadership in responding to the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa and for sustained and effective frontline responses to health emergencies.[27]
2014	Basic	Kazutoshi Mori	For discoveries concerning the unfolded protein response – an intracellular quality control system that detects harmful misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum and signals the nucleus to carry out corrective measures.
		Peter Walter
	Clinical	Alim-Louis Benabid	For the development of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus, a surgical technique that reduces tremors and restores motor function in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.
		Mahlon R. DeLong
	Special Achievement	Mary-Claire King	For bold, imaginative, and diverse contributions to medical science and human rights – she discovered the BRCA1 gene locus that causes hereditary breast cancer and deployed DNA strategies that reunite missing persons or their remains with their families.
2013	Basic	Richard H. Scheller	For discoveries concerning the molecular machinery and regulatory mechanism that underlie the rapid release of neurotransmitters.[28]
		Thomas C. Südhof
	Clinical	Graeme M. Clark	For the development of the modern cochlear implant – a device that bestows hearing to individuals with profound deafness.[29]
		Ingeborg Hochmair
		Blake S. Wilson
	Public Service	Bill Gates	For leading a historic transformation in the way we view the globe's most pressing health concerns and improving the lives of millions of the world's most vulnerable.[30]
		Melinda Gates
2012	Basic	Michael Sheetz	For discoveries concerning cytoskeletal motor proteins, machines that move cargoes within cells, contract muscles, and enable cell movements.[31]
		James Spudich
		Ronald Vale
	Clinical	Roy Calne	For the development of liver transplantation, which has restored normal life to thousands of patients with end-stage liver disease.[32]
		Thomas Starzl
	Special Achievement	Donald D. Brown	For exceptional leadership and citizenship in biomedical science – exemplified by fundamental discoveries concerning the nature of genes; by selfless commitment to young scientists; and by disseminating revolutionary technologies to the scientific community.[33]
		Tom Maniatis
2011	Basic	Franz-Ulrich Hartl	For discoveries concerning the cell's protein-folding machinery, exemplified by cage-like structures that convert newly made proteins into their biologically active forms.[34]
		Arthur L. Horwich
	Clinical	Tu Youyou	For the discovery of artemisinin, a drug therapy for malaria that has saved millions of lives across the globe, especially in the developing world.[35]
	Public Service	National Institutes of Health Clinical Center	For serving, since its inception, as a model research hospital – providing innovative therapy and high-quality patient care, treating rare and severe diseases, and producing outstanding physician-scientists whose collective work has set a standard of excellence in biomedical research.[36]
2010	Basic	Douglas L. Coleman	Discovery of leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite and body weight – a breakthrough that opened obesity research to molecular exploration.[37]
		Jeffrey M. Friedman
	Clinical	Napoleone Ferrara	Discovery of VEGF as a major mediator of angiogenesis and the development of an effective anti-VEGF therapy for wet macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in the elderly.[38]
	Special Achievement	David Weatherall	For 50 years of international statesmanship in biomedical science – exemplified by discoveries concerning genetic diseases of the blood and for leadership in improving clinical care for thousands of children with thalassemia throughout the developing world.[39]
2009	Basic	John Gurdon	Discoveries concerning nuclear reprogramming, the process that instructs specialized adult cells to form early stem cells – creating the potential to become any type of mature cell for experimental or therapeutic purposes.[40]
		Shinya Yamanaka
	Clinical	Brian Druker	The development of molecularly-targeted treatments for chronic myeloid leukemia, converting a fatal cancer into a manageable chronic condition.[41]
		Nicholas Lydon
		Charles Sawyers
	Public Service	Michael Bloomberg	Employing sound science in political decision making; setting a world standard for the public's health as an impetus for government action; leading the way to reduce the scourge of tobacco use; and advancing public health through enlightened philanthropy.[42]
2008	Basic	Victor Ambros	Discoveries that revealed an unanticipated world of tiny RNAs that regulate gene function in plants and animals.[43]
		David Baulcombe
		Gary Ruvkun
	Clinical	Akira Endo	The discovery of the statins – drugs with remarkable LDL-cholesterol-lowering properties that have revolutionized the prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease.[44]
	Special Achievement	Stanley Falkow	A 51-year career as one of the great microbe hunters of all time – he discovered the molecular nature of antibiotic resistance, revolutionized the way we think about how pathogens cause disease, and mentored more than 100 students, many of whom are now distinguished leaders in the fields of microbiology and infectious diseases.[2]
2007	Basic	Ralph Steinman	The discovery of dendritic cells – the preeminent component of the immune system that initiates and regulates the body's response to foreign antigens.[45]
	Clinical	Alain Carpentier	The development of prosthetic mitral and aortic valves, which have prolonged and enhanced the lives of millions of people with heart disease.[46]
		Albert Starr
	Public Service	Anthony Fauci	For his role as the principal architect of two major U.S. governmental programs, one aimed at AIDS and the other at biodefense.[47]
2006	Basic	Elizabeth Blackburn	The prediction and discovery of telomerase, a remarkable RNA-containing enzyme that synthesizes the ends of chromosomes, protecting them and maintaining the integrity of the genome[48]
		Carol Greider
		Jack Szostak
	Clinical	Aaron Beck	The development of cognitive therapy, which has transformed the understanding and treatment of many psychiatric conditions, including depression, suicidal behavior, generalized anxiety, panic attacks, and eating disorders.[49]
	Special Achievement	Joseph Gall	A distinguished 57-year-career as a founder of modern cell biology and the field of chromosome structure and function; bold experimentalist; inventor of in situ hybridization; and early champion of women in science.[50]
2005	Basic	Ernest McCulloch	Ingenious experiments that first identified a stem cell – the blood-forming stem cell – which set the stage for all current research on adult and embryonic stem cells.[51]
		James Till
	Clinical	Alec John Jeffreys	Development of two powerful technologies – Southern hybridization and DNA fingerprinting – that together revolutionized human genetics and forensic diagnostics.[52]
		Edwin Mellor Southern
	Public Service	Nancy Brinker	For creating one of the world's great foundations devoted to curing breast cancer and for dramatically increasing public awareness about this devastating disease.[53]
2004	Basic	Pierre Chambon	For the discovery of the superfamily of nuclear hormone receptors and elucidation of a unifying mechanism that regulates embryonic development and diverse metabolic pathways.[54]
		Ronald M. Evans
		Elwood V. Jensen
	Clinical	Charles Kelman	For revolutionizing the surgical removal of cataracts, turning a 10-day hospital stay into an outpatient procedure, and dramatically reducing complications.[55]
	Special Achievement	Matthew Meselson	For a lifetime career that combines penetrating discovery in molecular biology with creative leadership in the public policy of chemical and biological weapons.[56]
2003	Basic	Robert G. Roeder	Pioneering studies on eukaryotic RNA polymerases and the general transcriptional machinery, which opened gene expression in animal cells to biochemical analysis.[57]
	Clinical	Marc Feldmann	Discovery of anti-TNF therapy as an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.[58]
		Ravinder N. Maini
	Public Service	Christopher Reeve	Perceptive, sustained, and heroic advocacy for medical research in general, and victims of disability in particular.[59]
2002	Basic	James E. Rothman	Discoveries revealing the universal molecular machinery that orchestrates the budding and fusion of membrane vesicles – a process essential to organelle formation, nutrient uptake, and secretion of hormones and neurotransmitters.[60]
		Randy W. Schekman
	Clinical	Willem J. Kolff	Development of renal hemodialysis, which changed kidney failure from a fatal to a treatable disease, prolonging the useful lives of millions of patients.[61]
		Belding H. Scribner
	Special Achievement	James E. Darnell Jr.	For an exceptional career in biomedical science during which he opened two fields in biology – RNA processing and cytokine signaling – and fostered the development of many creative scientists.[62]
2001	Basic	Mario R. Capecchi	Development of a powerful technology for manipulating the mouse genome with exquisite precision, which allows the creation of animal models of human disease.[63]
		Martin J. Evans
		Oliver Smithies
	Clinical	Robert G. Edwards	Development of in vitro fertilization, a technological advance that has revolutionized the treatment of human infertility.[64]
	Public Service	William H. Foege	For courageous leadership in improving worldwide public health, and his prominent role in the eradication of smallpox.[65]
2000	Basic	Aaron Ciechanover	For the discovery and recognition of the broad significance of the ubiquitin system of regulated protein degradation, a fundamental process that influences vital cellular events, including the cell cycle, malignant transformation, and responses to inflammation and immunity.[66]
		Avram Hershko
		Alexander Varshavsky
	Clinical	Harvey J. Alter	Discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C and the development of screening methods that reduced the risk of blood transfusion-associated hepatitis in the U.S. from 30% in 1970 to virtually zero in 2000.[67]
		Michael Houghton
	Special Achievement	Sydney Brenner	For 50 years of brilliant creativity in biomedical science – exemplified by his legendary work on the genetic code; his daring introduction of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans as a system for tracing the birth and death of every cell in a living animal; his rational voice in the debate on recombinant DNA; and his trenchant wit.[68]

Historical awards

Awards no longer made include Special Public Health Awards, Special Awards, Group Awards, and Lasker Awards made by the International Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, the National Committee Against Mental Illness, and Planned Parenthood – World Population.^[5] Awards were also presented for medical journalism.^[5]

Special Public Health awards

• 1975 – Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories: Karl H. Beyer [de] Jr., James M. Sprague, John E. Baer, Frederick C. Novello
• 1980 – National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
• 1984 – Dorothy T. Krieger, Kevin McLaughlin Jr.
• 1987 – Centennial Salute to the National Institutes of Health

Special awards

• 1947 – Thomas Parran Jr.
• 1949 – Haven Emerson
• 1952 – Charles-Edward Amory Winslow
• 1956 – Alan Gregg
• 1959 – J. Lister Hill and John E. Fogarty

Group awards

• 1946 – National Institutes of Health; National Regional Research Laboratory of the US Department of Agriculture; Board for the Coordination of Malarial Studies; Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine of the US Department of Agriculture; Army Epidemiological Board
• 1947 – British Ministry of Health and Ministry of Food; United States Committee on Joint Causes of Death
• 1948 – Veterans Administration's Department of Medicine and Surgery
• 1949 – American Academy of Pediatrics; Life Insurance Medical Research Fund
• 1950 – International Health Division of The Rockefeller Foundation
• 1951 – Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York; Alcoholics Anonymous
• 1953 – Division of Research Grants of the National Institutes of Health; University Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Related to Medicine at Harvard University
• 1954 – Streptococcal Disease Laboratory, Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, Francis E. Warren Air Force Base: Charles H. Rammelkamp Jr., Director
• 1956 – Food and Drug Administration; Medical Care Program, Welfare and Retirement Fund of the United Mine Workers of America
• 1960 – Crippled Children's Program of the Children's Bureau; Chronic Disease Program of the California State Department of Public Health (Lester Breslow)^[69]

International Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled

• 1954 – Henry H. Kessler, Juan Farill, Viscount Nuffield
• 1957 – Howard A. Rusk, Fabian W. G. Langenskiold, World Veterans Federation
• 1960 – Mary E. Switzer, Gudmund Harlem, Paul W. Brand
• 1963 – Renato de Costa Bomfim, Kurt Jansson, Leonard W. Mayo
• 1966 – Poul Stochholm, Wiktor Dega, Eugene J. Taylor
• 1969 – Gustav Gringas, Mr and Mrs Raden Soeharso, Andre Trannoy, International Labour Organization
• 1972 – James F. Garrett, Kamala V. Nimbkar, Jean Regniers

National Committee Against Mental Illness

• 1944 – William C. Menninger
• 1945 – G. Brock Chisholm, John Rawlings Rees
• 1946 – W. Horsley Gantt, Jules H. Masserman, Walter Lerch, Douglass Rice Sharpe, Lawrence K. Frank
• 1947 – Catherine MacKenzie
• 1948 – C. Anderson Aldrich, Mike Gorman, Al Ostrow
• 1949 – Mildred C. Scoville, Albert Deutsch

Planned Parenthood – World Population

• 1945 – John McLeod, Felix J. Underwood
• 1946 – Robert Latou Dickinson, Irl Cephas Riggin
• 1947 – Alan F. Guttmacher, Abraham Stone
• 1948 – John Rock, Richard N. Pierson
• 1949 – George M. Cooper, Carl G. Hartman
• 1950 – Margaret Sanger, Bessie L. Moses
• 1951 – Guy Irving Burch, William Vogt
• 1952 – John William Roy Norton, Herbert Thoms, Eleanor Bellows Pillsbury
• 1953 – Harry Emerson Fosdick, Elise Ottesen-Jensen
• 1954 – Dhanvanthi Rama Rau, M. C. Chang, Howard C. Taylor
• 1955 – Warren O. Nelson, Robert Carter Cook
• 1958 – Harrison S. Brown
• 1959 – Julian Huxley
• 1960 – Gregory Pincus
• 1961 – John D. Rockefeller, III
• 1964 – Cass Canfield
• 1965 – C. Lee Buxton, Estelle T. Griswold

See also

• List of medicine awards