In 1942, pioneering advertising executive Albert Lasker and his wife, Mary, established a foundation to champion medical research.
Their first major project (and the primary work of their foundation, still) was establishment of a prize to recognize and encourage leading biological research scientists. The Lasker Prize is perhaps the second most prestigious award a medical investigator can earn.
Fully 83 Lasker laureates have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in medicine, including 31 in the past two decades. More recently, the foundation has established other prizes to recognize important achievements in clinical research, professional influence, and public service in medicine.
- Most recent award winners, laskerfoundation.org/awards/currentwinners.htm