Vilcek Foundation allocates $150,000 for 2022 prizes honoring immigrant scientists

NEW YORK, March 1, 2021–The Vilcek Foundation has announced that in 2022 it will award three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. The foundation has allocated $150,000 to make three awards of $50,000 each to early-career biomedical scientists who have already demonstrated significant accomplishments.

The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science are part of the Vilcek Foundation Prizes program. Inaugurated in 2006, the Vilcek Foundation Prizes raise awareness and visibility of the contributions of immigrants in biomedical science and in the arts and humanities. The program extols the value of immigration for intellectual and cultural advancement in the United States.

“Immigrant scientists have contributed to the United States’ position as a world leader in scientific research and discovery,” says Jan Vilcek, chairman and CEO of the Vilcek Foundation. “With the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science we recognize individuals who immigrated to the United States, and who bring unique insight, perspective, and experience to their work.”

“The funding that recipients of the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise receive is unrestricted,” says Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel. “The prizes are intended to support young research leaders at a critical point in their careers.”

Since 2009 the Vilcek Foundation has awarded 31 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science, totaling over $1.3 million. These prizes highlight the contributions that foreign-born researchers make to biomedical science in the United States. The program honors and encourages the innovative approaches and perspectives that immigrant scientists bring to their respective disciplines.

In September 2021, the Vilcek Foundation announced the recipients of the 2021 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science: Mohamed Abou Donia, born in Egypt, received the award for his research demonstrating the potential of the human microbiome as a source of novel drugs and uncovering the basis of microbiome-driven drug metabolism. Ibrahim Cissé, a native of Niger, received the honor for using super-resolution biological imaging to directly visualize the dynamic nature of gene expression in living cells. And Silvi Rouskin, born in Bulgaria, received the award for developing methods to unravel the shapes of RNA molecules inside cells, aiding the potential development of RNA-based therapeutics.

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Further Information:

Information and full eligibility requirements for the 2022 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science are available at the following link: http://vilcek.co/cpp2022biomedeapr. Inquiries about the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science should be directed to [email protected].

The Vilcek Foundation

The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation–to honor immigrant contributions to the United States, and more broadly to foster appreciation of the arts and sciences–was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $5.8 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and supported organizations with over $5.2 million in grants.

The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3).