The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was founded by Albert Lasker and his wife Mary Woodard Lasker (later a medical research activist). The awards are sometimes referred to as "America's Nobels". The Lasker Awards have gained a reputation for identifying future winners of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

. Eighty-six Lasker laureates have received the Nobel Prize, including 32 in the last two decades.The Lasker Foundation – 2008 Special Achievement Award
/ref> Claire Pomeroy is the current president of the Lasker Foundation.

Award

The award is given in four branches of medical science: # Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award # Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award # Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award (Renamed in 2011 from Mary Woodard Lasker Public Service Award. Renamed in 2000 from Albert Lasker Public Service Award.) # ''

Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science The Albert Lasker Special Achievement Award is one of the four Lasker Awards given by the Lasker Foundation for medical research in the United States. The first award was given in 1994; it is not awarded every year. In 2008, the award was renamed t ...

(1994–)''(optional) The awards carry an honorarium of $250,000 for each category. 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. In addition to the main awards, there are historical awards that are no longer awarded.

Recent awards

Recent winners include the following:

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 National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, and Planned Parenthood - World Population. Awards were also presented for medical journalism.

Special Public Health awards

*1975 – Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories: Jr., James M. Sprague, John E. Baer, Frederick C. Novello *1980 –

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is the third largest Institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland, United States. It is tasked with allocating about $3.6 billion in FY 2020 in tax revenue t ...

*1984 – Dorothy T. Krieger, Kevin McLaughlin Jr. *1987 – Centennial Salute to the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the lat ...

Special awards

*1947 – Thomas Parran Jr. *1949 – Haven Emerson *1952 – Charles-Edward Amory Winslow *1956 – Alan Gregg *1959 –

J. Lister Hill Joseph Lister Hill (December 29, 1894 – December 20, 1984) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Alabama in the U.S. Congress for more than forty-five years, as both a U.S. Representative (1923–1938) ...

and

John E. Fogarty John Edward Fogarty (March 23, 1913 – January 10, 1967) was a Congressman from Rhode Island for 26 years. He was a member of the Democratic Party. John Edward Fogarty was influential in passing numerous legislations and acts. For his service he ...

Group awards

*1946 –

; 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 The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

's Department of Medicine and Surgery *1949 –

American Academy of Pediatrics The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is an American professional association of pediatricians, headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. It maintains its Department of Federal Affairs office in Washington, D.C. Background The Academy was found ...

; Life Insurance Medical Research Fund *1950 – International Health Division of

The Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

*1951 – Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York;

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

*1953 – Division of Research Grants of the

; University Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Related to Medicine at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

*1954 – Streptococcal Disease Laboratory,

Armed Forces Epidemiological Board Armed (May, 1941–1964) was an American Thoroughbred gelding race horse who was the American Horse of the Year in 1947 and Champion Older Male Horse in both 1946 and 1947. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in ...

, Francis E. Warren Air Force Base: Charles H. Rammelkamp Jr., Director *1956 –

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

; Medical Care Program, Welfare and Retirement Fund of the

United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...

*1960 – Crippled Children's Program of the Children's Bureau; Chronic Disease Program of the California State Department of Public Health (

Lester Breslow Lester Breslow (March 17, 1915 in Bismarck, North Dakota, USA – April 9, 2012 in Los Angeles, California, USA) was an American physician who promoted public health. Breslow's career had a significant impact. He is credited with pioneering chro ...

)

International Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled

*1954 – Henry H. Kessler,

Juan Farill ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...

, Viscount Nuffield *1957 – Howard A. Rusk, Fabian W. G. Langenskiold,

World Veterans Federation The World Veterans Federation (WVF) is the world's largest international veteran organisation. The federation consists of 172 veterans organizations from 121 countries representing some 60 million veterans worldwide. It is a humanitarian organisa ...

*1960 –

Mary E. Switzer Mary Elizabeth Switzer (February 16, 1900 - October 16, 1971) was an American public administrator and social reformer. She is best remembered for her work on the 1954 Vocational Rehabilitation Act, which provided a great expansion of vocational ...

, Gudmund Harlem, Paul W. Brand *1963 – Renato de Costa Bomfim,

Kurt Jansson The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

, Leonard W. Mayo *1966 – Poul Stochholm,

Wiktor Dega Wiktor Dega (7 December 1896 – 16 February 1995) was a Polish surgeon and orthopedist who was well known for his work on polio. Dega served as an expert for the World Health Organization and was one of the founders of the Polish Orthopedic Societ ...

Eugene J. Taylor Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

*1969 –

Gustav Gringas Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

, Mr and Mrs Raden Soeharso, Andre Trannoy,

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

*1972 – James F. Garrett, Kamala V. Nimbkar,

Jean Regniers Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

National Committee Against Mental Illness

*1944 – William C. Menninger *1945 – G. Brock Chisholm, John Rawlings Rees *1946 –

W. Horsley Gantt William Andrew Horsley Gantt (24 October 1892 – 26 February 1980) was an American physiologist and psychiatrist. At the time of his death in 1980, he was one of only two surviving students of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. He spent fifty-six ...

, Jules H. Masserman, Walter Lerch, Douglass Rice Sharpe, Lawrence K. Frank *1947 – Catherine MacKenzie *1948 – C. Anderson Aldrich, Mike Gorman,

Al Ostrow AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

*1949 – Mildred C. Scoville,

Albert Deutsch Albert Deutsch (1905–1961) was an American journalist and social historian. He received a George Polk Award for "Science Reporting" in 1948. Background Albert Deutsch was born on October 23, 1905, on the lower East Side of New York City to immi ...

Planned Parenthood - World Population

*1945 – John McLeod,

Felix J. Underwood Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

*1946 –

Robert Latou Dickinson Robert Latou Dickinson (1861–1950) was an American obstetrician and gynecologist, surgeon, maternal health educator, artist, sculptor and medical illustrator, and research scientist. Early life Robert Latou Dickinson was born on February 21, ...

, Irl Cephas Riggin *1947 – Alan F. Guttmacher, Abraham Stone *1948 – John Rock, Richard N. Pierson *1949 – George M. Cooper,

Carl G. Hartman Carl may refer to: * Carl, Georgia, city in USA * Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name * Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of ...

*1950 –

Margaret Sanger Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth contro ...

, Bessie L. Moses *1951 – Guy Irving Burch,

William Vogt William Vogt (15 May 1902 – 11 July 1968) was an American ecologist and ornithologist, with a strong interest in both the carrying capacity and population control. He was the author of best-seller ''Road to Survival'' (1948), National Direc ...

*1952 – John William Roy Norton,

Herbert Thoms Herbert Thoms (1885-1972) was an obstetrician and gynecologist who was an early advocate for natural childbirth and birth control. Thoms was chairman of the medical advisory council of the Connecticut Planned Parenthood League in 1961, when the lea ...

, Eleanor Bellows Pillsbury *1953 – Harry Emerson Fosdick, Elise Ottesen-Jensen *1954 – Dhanvanthi Rama Rau, M. C. Chang,

Howard C. Taylor Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probab ...

*1955 – Warren O. Nelson, Robert Carter Cook *1958 – Harrison S. Brown *1959 –

Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century modern synthesis. ...

*1960 –

Gregory Pincus Gregory Goodwin Pincus (April 9, 1903 – August 22, 1967) was an American biologist and researcher who co-invented the combined oral contraceptive pill. Early life Gregory Goodwin Pincus was born in Woodbine, New Jersey to Jewish parents, who w ...

*1961 – John D. Rockefeller, III *1964 – Cass Canfield *1965 – C. Lee Buxton, Estelle T. Griswold

References

External links

The Lasker Foundation
- Official site
Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation - Albert Lasker Awards Archives (1944-)
��National Library of Medicine finding aid {{Authority control Medicine awards Awards established in 1945 1945 establishments in the United States