Exceptional service to the Academy has been recognized since 1952 with an award of distinction for Fellows and affiliates of the Academy. Individuals are recognized for sustained engagement with the Academy over an extended period, making major contributions to the success of the Academy’s mission and programs, its role in the broader community or its organizational growth and development.
Eligibility Requirements
Award candidates demonstrating exceptional service to the Academy must be nominated via the Nominations Committee’s process (see Application Process below). The awardee must be available to accept the award in-person at the Academy’s Anniversary Discourse and Awards ceremony in November.
Application Process
During the first quarter of the year, a message is sent on behalf of the Nominations Committee to all Academy Fellows and Members soliciting nominations for the Academy’s five annual awards that are bestowed at the Annual Meeting of the Fellows and Discourse and Awards Ceremony in November. The task of the Nominations Committee is to recommend a list of nominees (two individuals per award, allowing for an alternate in case the first choice is unable to attend the November meeting) based on the submitted nominations. The nominees are discussed at great length and it is decided as a group which two names for each award should be advanced for consideration—there is the first candidate and then an alternate if the first choice cannot accept. The Academy President extends the invitations to those selected.
Award Information
The award recipient accepts the award in-person at the Academy’s Anniversary Discourse and Awards ceremony in November.
Previous Recipients
- 2025 The Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Rockefeller Foundation
- 2024 Mark Kaplan and David Vlahov, PhD, RN, FAAN
- 2023 Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD
- 2021 James Flynn, MS
- 2019 George E. Thibault, MD
- 2018 Jo Ivey Boufford
- 2017 Barry S. Coller and Bobbi Coller
- 2016 Terry Fulmer
- 2015 Ruby P. Hearn
- 2014 Leslie Goldman
- 2013 Claire M. Fagin
- 2012 Gerald E. Thomson
- 2011 Anne Moore
- 2010 Corinne Rieder
- 2009 Jack Barchas
- 2008 Jack Rudin
- 2007 Jeremiah A. Barondess
- 2006 Gordon H. DeFriese
- 2005 Peter F. Vallone
- 2004 William H. Helfand
- 2003 Marvin Lieberman, Jacqueline Messite
- 2002 William N. Hubbard, Jr.
- 2001 Stanley Brezenoff
- 2000 Michael R. McGarvey
- 1999 Richard L. Menschel
- 1998 Ralph A. O’Connell
- 1997 Thomas Q. Morris
- 1996 Saul J. Farber
- 1995 Robert J. Haggerty
- 1994 William C. Stubing
- 1993 Margaret E. Mahoney
- 1992 Martin Cherkasky
- 1991 Mary Ann Payne
- 1990 Fidelio A. Jimenez
- 1989 Maurice E. Shils
- 1988 Bernard J. Pisani
- 1987 Norbert J. Roberts
- 1986 Duncan W. Clark
- 1985 John V. Waller
- 1984 August H. Groeschel
- 1983 Iago Galdston
- 1982 Joseph Post
- 1981 Edward E. Fischel
- 1980 John L. Madden
- 1979 Saul Jarcho
- 1978 George A. Perera
- 1977 Frank Glenn
- 1976 Paul Reznikoff
- 1975 Albert C. Santy
- 1974 Gertrude L. Annan, Janet Doe
- 1973 Jerome P. Webster
- 1972 Frank B. Berry
- 1971 Samuel W. Lambert, Jr.
- 1970 J. Burns Amberson, Jr.
- 1969 Peter Marshall Murray
- 1968 Claude Heaton
- 1967 Howard Reid Craig
- 1966 Benjamin P. Watson
- 1965 Arthur M. Master
- 1964 William Barclay Parsons
- 1963 Asa Liggett Lincoln
- 1962 Robert L. Levy
- 1961 George Baehr
- 1960 Shepard Krech
- 1959 Montgomery B. Angell
- 1958 Charles C. Morchand
- 1956 Malcolm Goodridge
- 1955 Haven Emerson
- 1954 Seth Minot Milliken
- 1953 John W. Davis
- 1952 Orrin Sage Wightman
The Academy has been awarding a medal for distinguished contributions in biomedical science since 1929 to an eminent scientist in biomedicine. The recipient should be a senior investigator with evidence of sustained accomplishments in biomedical research and a special interest in translating research findings to advance human health. The recipient must have made identifiable, unique contribution(s) to a field or discipline with demonstrated impact on both research and training.
Eligibility Requirements
Award candidates demonstrating extraordinary contributions in biomedical science must be nominated via the Nominations Committee’s process (see Application Process below). The awardee must be available to accept the award in-person at the Academy’s Anniversary Discourse and Awards ceremony in November.
Application Process
During the first quarter of the year, a message is sent on behalf of the Nominations Committee to all Academy Fellows and Members soliciting nominations for the Academy’s five annual awards that are bestowed at the Annual Meeting of the Fellows and Discourse and Awards Ceremony in November. The task of the Nominations Committee is to recommend a list of nominees (two individuals per award, allowing for an alternate in case the first choice is unable to attend the November meeting) based on the submitted nominations. The nominees are discussed at great length and it is decided as a group which two names for each award should be advanced for consideration—there is the first candidate and then an alternate if the first choice cannot accept. The Academy President, Dr. Judith A. Salerno, extends the invitations to those selected.
Award Information
The award recipient accepts the award in-person at the Academy’s Anniversary Discourse and Awards ceremony in November.
Previous Recipients
- 2025 Jennifer Doudna, PhD
- 2024 Gary H. Gibbons, MD
- 2023 Claire M. Fraser, PhD
- 2023 Charles Rotimi, PhD
- 2021 Katalin Karikó, PhD
- 2021 Drew Weissman, MD, PhD
- 2019 Nancy S. Wexler
- 2018 Wendy K. Chung
- 2017 Nancy E. Adler
- 2016 Richard P. Lifton
- 2015 Charles L. Sawyers
- 2014 Stuart Schreiber
- 2013 Rudolf Jaenisch
- 2012 Elaine Fuchs
- 2011 Susan Band Horwitz
- 2010 James S. Jackson
- 2009 Eric S. Lander
- 2008 Joan A. Steitz
- 2007 Stanley N. Cohen
- 2006 Bert Vogelstein
- 2005 Elizabeth H. Blackburn
- 2004 Irving L. Weissman
- 2003 Wayne A. Hendrickson
- 2002 James E. Darnell, Jr.
- 2001 Richard Axel
- 2000 Harold Varmus
- 1999 James D. Watson
- 1998 Judah Folkman
- 1997 David Baltimore
- 1996 Eric R. Kandel
- 1995 William Trager
- 1994 Harold S. Ginsberg
- 1993 John H. Laragh
- 1992 Robert F. Furchgott
- 1991 Maria I. New
- 1990 Matthew Scharff
- 1989 Elvin A. Kabat
- 1988 Paul F. Cranefield, Brian Hoffman
- 1987 Thomas C. Chalmers
- 1986 Irving S. Wright
- 1985 Lloyd J. Old
- 1984 Vincent P. Dole
- 1983 Edwin D. Kilbourne
- 1982 Rene Dubos
- 1981 Karl Meyer
- 1980 Erwin Chargaff
- 1979 Maclyn McCarty
- 1978 Saul Krugman
- 1977 Henry G. Kunkel
- 1976 Charles A. Ragan, Jr.
- 1975 George Hirst
- 1974 H. Sherwood Lawrence
- 1973 Rebecca Lancefield
- 1972 James A. Shannon
- 1971 Solomon Berson
- 1970 Harry Eagle
- 1969 Harold W. Brown
- 1968 Michael Heidelberger
- 1967 Donald D. Van Slyke
- 1966 Samuel Z. Levine, Rustin McIntosh
- 1965 Richard E. Shope
- 1964 Gilbert J. Dalldorf
- 1963 Andre Cournand, Dickinson W. Richards
- 1962 Paul Klemperer
- 1961 E. V. McCollum
- 1960 Eugene L. Opie
- 1959 Peyton Rous
- 1958 Alphonse R. Dochez
- 1956 Eugene F. DuBois
- 1955 Allen O. Whipple
- 1954 Edwards A. Park
- 1953 Rufus Cole
- 1947 James Alexander Miller
- 1944 Oswald T. Avery
- 1938 Bela Schick
- 1936 Alfred Newton Richards
- 1934 Charles Norris
- 1931 David Marine
- 1929 Carl Koller
The medal for lifetime achievement in public health, first awarded in 2005, was named for Stephen Smith, an Academy Fellow and pioneer in the field of public health. The recipient should have led or significantly contributed to work that effected a significant change in public health policy or practice to improve population health, including work on the broad determinants of health, with a special emphasis on eliminating health disparities.
Eligibility Requirements
Award candidates demonstrating extraordinary contributions to the field of public health must be nominated via the Nominations Committee’s process (see Application Process below). The awardee must be available to accept the award in-person at the Academy’s Anniversary Discourse and Awards ceremony in November.
Application Process
During the first quarter of the year, a message is sent on behalf of the Nominations Committee to all Academy Fellows and Members soliciting nominations for the Academy’s five annual awards that are bestowed at the Annual Meeting of the Fellows and Discourse and Awards Ceremony in November. The task of the Nominations Committee is to recommend a list of nominees (two individuals per award, allowing for an alternate in case the first choice is unable to attend the November meeting) based on the submitted nominations. The nominees are discussed at great length and it is decided as a group which two names for each award should be advanced for consideration—there is the first candidate and then an alternate if the first choice cannot accept. The Academy President extends the invitations to those selected.
Award Information
The award recipient accepts the event in-person at the Academy’s Anniversary Discourse and Awards ceremony in November.
Previous Recipients:
- 2025 Peter Jay Hotez, MD, PhD
- 2024 Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH
- 2023 Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH
- 2021 Reed Tuckson, MD, FACP
- 2019 Mary T. Bassett
- 2018 Wafaa El-Sadr
- 2017 Paula A. Johnson
- 2016 Linda Rosenstock
- 2015 Alfred Sommer
- 2014 Sir Michael Marmot
- 2013 David R. Williams
- 2012 Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg
- 2011 Thomas Frieden
- 2010 Lisa Berkman
- 2009 Philip J. Landrigan
- 2008 Harvey V. Fineberg
- 2007 William H. Foege
- 2006 William B. Kannel, Allan Rosenfield
- 2005 Lester Breslow