Over the years I’ve given out yearly awards on this blog for various achievements (good or not so good) in the stem cell field for specific years. See 2010 and 2011 awards here.
This year the Knoepfler Lab 2012 Awards are going to be the most exciting ever.
I’m going to give out some of the usual awards, but I’ve added an exciting Stem Cell Person of the Year Award that I’ll be giving out annually.
The prize is of course an honor, but also a $1000 cash prize.
I’m putting my money where my mouth (blog) is by putting up this money myself.
Why give out this award?
My goal is to advance the stem cell field and give credit to those who make a real difference.
Anyone is eligible for the Stem Cell Person of the Year Award except members of the Knoepfler Lab.
The criteria are that the person made a truly outstanding difference in the stem cell field for 2012. The winner could be a scientist, a patient advocate, someone in industry, a student, a physician…really anyone who has made the field better. For non-scientist nominees I’m particularly interested in those who took personal risks or gave of themselves to help others. For scientists I am looking for outstanding scientific achievement and in particular out-of-the-box thinking.
Folks in any country are eligible.
The closing date for nominations will be Monday December 17 at 11:59PM PST.
I will pick 5 finalists and will interview them by phone/Skype. I will also have an online vote that may have influence on my final decision.
I plan to announce the winner the first week in January.
Please submit your nominations (no more than 1 page single spaced in length) to me via email at knoepfler@ucdavis.edu. I recommend that students or postdocs be nominated by their mentors, but more senior scientists are eligible too. Self-nominations are acceptable as well. Non-scientists are strongly encouraged to apply and/or be nominated too.