In 1945

Albert Lasker Albert Davis Lasker (May 1, 1880 – May 30, 1952) was an American businessman who played a major role in shaping modern advertising. He was raised in Galveston, Texas, where his father was the president of several banks. Moving to Chicago, he b ...

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 Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pra ...

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". The Lasker Awards have gained a reputation for identifying future winners of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

. 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–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award is one of four annual awards presented by the Lasker Foundation. The Lasker–DeBakey award is given to honor outstanding work for the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of di ...

Lasker–Bloomberg Public Service Award The Lasker–Bloomberg Public Service Award, known until 2009 as the Mary Woodard Lasker Public Service Award, is awarded by the Lasker Foundation to honor an individual or organization whose public service has profoundly enlarged the possibilitie ...

(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 ...

(1994– renamed to that name in 2008)'' (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 International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, the National Committee Against Mental Illness, 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 (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

Special awards

*1947 – Thomas Parran Jr. *1949 – Haven Emerson *1952 –

Charles-Edward Amory Winslow Charles-Edward Amory Winslow (February 4, 1877 – January 8, 1957) was an American bacteriologist and public health expert who was, according to the ''Encyclopedia of Public Health'', "a seminal figure in public health, not only in his own cou ...

*1956 – Alan Gregg *1959 –

J. Lister Hill Joseph Lister Hill (December 27, 1894 – December 20, 1984) was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician who represented Alabama in the United States House of Representatives from 1923 to 1938 and the United States Senate from 1938 ...

and John E. Fogarty

Group awards

*1946 –

; National Regional Research Laboratory of the

US Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

; 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 Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

; 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 lifelong 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 the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States. It is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C. The AAP has published hundreds of poli ...

; Life Insurance Medical Research Fund *1950 –

International Health Division 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 foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller ("Seni ...

The Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rock ...

*1951 – Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York;

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led Mutual aid, mutual-aid fellowship focused on an abstinence-based recovery model from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's Twelve Traditions, besides emphasizing anon ...

*1953 – Division of Research Grants of the

; University Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Related to Medicine at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

*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 List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

; 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 chron ...

)

International Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled

*1954 – Henry H. Kessler, Juan Farill,

Viscount Nuffield A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is so ...

*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,

Gudmund Harlem Gudmund Harlem (24 July 1917 – 22 March 1988) was a Norwegian physician and politician for the Labour Party. He was the Norwegian Minister of Social Affairs from 1955 to 1961 and Norwegian Minister of Defence from 1961 to 1965 (except for a ...

, 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 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 one of the firs ...

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

National Committee Against Mental Illness

*1944 –

William C. Menninger William Claire Menninger (October 15, 1899 – September 6, 1966) was a co-founder with his brother Karl and his father of The Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, an internationally known center for treatment of behavioral disorders. Life ...

*1945 – G. Brock Chisholm,

John Rawlings Rees John Rawlings Rees, (25 June 1890 – 11 April 1969), also known as 'Jack' or 'J.R.', was a British civilian and military psychiatrist. Early life Born in Leicester to the Methodist minister Reverend Montgomery Rees and his wife Catharine Mil ...

*1946 – W. Horsley Gantt, Jules H. Masserman, Walter Lerch, Douglass Rice Sharpe, Lawrence K. Frank *1947 – Catherine MacKenzie *1948 – C. Anderson Aldrich,

Mike Gorman Mike Gorman (born November 24, 1947) is an American former sports commentator. After returning from the United States Navy in the 1970s, he began working at radio and television stations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island with the help of fellow ...

, Al Ostrow *1949 – Mildred C. Scoville, Albert Deutsch

Planned Parenthood – World Population

*1945 – John McLeod, Felix J. Underwood *1946 –

Robert Latou Dickinson Robert Latou Dickinson (February 21, 1861 – November 29, 1950) was an American obstetrician and gynecologist, surgeon, maternal health educator, artist, sculptor and medical illustrator, research scientist, author, and public health educator. ...

, 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 Margaret Sanger ( Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instr ...

, 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 the best-seller '' Road to Survival'' (1948), National ...

*1952 – John William Roy Norton, Herbert Thoms,

Eleanor Bellows Pillsbury Eleanor Bellows Pillsbury (January 16, 1913August 27, 1971) was an American activist who was the president of Planned Parenthood from 1950 to 1953 and helped create the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Early life Pillsbury was bo ...

*1953 –

Harry Emerson Fosdick Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878 – October 5, 1969) was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the fundamentalist–modernist controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominen ...

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

*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 Pincus was one of five siblings born in Woodbine, New Jersey, to immigrant pare ...

*1961 – John D. Rockefeller, III *1964 –

Cass Canfield Augustus Cass Canfield (April 26, 1897 – March 27, 1986) was an American publishing executive who was the longtime president and chairman of Harper & Brothers, later Harper & Row. Early life Canfield was the son of Augustus Cass Canfield (1854� ...

*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