Lasker Award

The Lasker Foundation is a US-based Foundation for the support of biomedical research and for policies and programs to improve human health and the prolongation of life.

Origin and Tasks

The Lasker Foundation was founded in 1942 by Albert Lasker, a successful entrepreneur from the advertising industry and his wife Mary Woodard Lasker, an influential lobbyist in the health and ( medical ) research sector. The first president until his death in 1952 Albert Lasker, after his death, his wife Mary Lasker took over the presidency, which she held until her death in 1994. The seat of the Foundation is New York City, the current President is Maria C. Freire (2011 ).

The Lasker Foundation supports various initiatives to promote medical research, where the initiatives - not financially, but logistically, supports knowledge transfer and other measures - by its own account. For these programs, numerous interdisciplinary working groups, draft laws, innovative ( web-based ) programs, educational forums or scientific studies have developed. The Foundation's mission is to promote the prevention and treatment of diseases in health care through excellent basic research is to continue educating the public about the many health risks is a goal.

The values ​​of the Lasker Foundation is committed are:

  • Integrity
  • Independence from political and corporate influence
  • Impartiality in efforts to educate and raise awareness about issues of medical research
  • Leading position in support of medical science
  • Definition of quality standards in research

The Lasker Awards

The Lasker Awards are awarded since 1946 to living persons who made ​​important contributions to the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure or prevention of human disease or other public services have done for the purposes of medicine. The awards are also referred to as American (medical ) Nobel Prizes. 76 of the winners won a Nobel Prize later, of which 28 alone after 1990.

The awards are (as of 2011 ) awarded in four different categories. Each award is worth $ 250,000.

  • Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
  • Lasker ~ DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
  • Lasker ~ Bloomberg Public Service Award ( in 2011 renamed from Mary Woodard Lasker Public Service Award, before Albert Lasker Public Service Award )
  • Lasker ~ Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science ( since 1994).

Previous prizes have been awarded under the following names:

  • Special Public Health Award (1975-1987)
  • Special Award (1947-1959)
  • Group Award (1946-1960)
  • Albert Lasker Award from the International Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (1954-1972)
  • Albert Lasker Award of the National Committee Against Mental Illness (1944-1949)
  • Albert Lasker Award of Planned Parenthood - World Population (1945-1965)
  • Albert Lasker Medical Journalism Awards (1949-1969)
Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
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