The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, founded by advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

 pioneer Albert Lasker

Albert Lasker

Albert Davis Lasker was an American businessman who is often considered to be the founder of modern advertising. He was born in Freiburg, Germany when his American parents Morris and Nettie Heidenheimer Davis Lasker were visiting their homeland; he was raised in Galveston, Texas, where Morris was...

 and his wife Mary Woodard Lasker (later an influential medical research activist). The awards are sometimes referred to as "America's Nobels." Seventy-six Lasker laureates have received the Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

, including 28 in the last two decades. Maria C. Freire is the current President of the Foundation.

The four main awards are:

• Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
  Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
  The Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research is one of the prizes awarded by the Lasker Foundation for the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of disease...
  
  
• Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
  Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research
  Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award is awarded by the Lasker Foundation for the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of disease. The award was renamed in 2008 in honor of Michael E. DeBakey...
  
  
• Mary Woodard Lasker Public Service Award
  Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service
  The Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service is awarded by the Lasker Foundation. It was previously known as the Albert Lasker Public Service Award, but was renamed in 2000 in honour of his wife. Past Winners include:*2009 Michael Bloomberg...
  
   (renamed in 2000 from Albert Lasker Public Service Award)
• Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science
  Albert Lasker Special Achievement Award
  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 the Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in...
  
   (1994-).

Recent awards

Recent winners include the following:

Year	Award	Laureate(s)	Reason
2011	Basic	Franz-Ulrich Hartl Franz-Ulrich Hartl Franz-Ulrich Hartl is a German biochemist and Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. He is known for his pioneering work in the field of protein-mediated protein folding....	for discoveries concerning the cell's protein-folding machinery, exemplified by cage-like structures that convert newly made proteins into their biologically active forms.
		Arthur L. Horwich Arthur L. Horwich Arthur L. Horwich is an American biologist and Eugene Higgins Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine. Horwich has also been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 1990. His research into protein folding uncovered the action of chaperonins, protein complexes...
	Clinical	Tu Youyou Tu Youyou Tu Youyou , is a Chinese medical scientist, pharmaceutical chemist, and educator. She was awarded the 2011 Lasker Award in Clinical Medicine for discovering artemisinin , used to treat malaria.-Biography:...	for the discovery of artemisinin, a drug therapy for malaria that has saved millions of lives across the globe, especially in the developing world.
	Public Service	National Institutes of Health Clinical Center National Institutes of Health Clinical Center The National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland is one of the centers of National Institutes of Health. The Clincial Center is a hospital devoted entirely to clinical research in the United States. It consists of the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center and the Mark O....	for serving since its inception as a model research hospital — providing innovative therapy and high-quality patient care, treating rare and severe diseases, and producing outstanding physician-scientists whose collective work has set a standard of excellence in biomedical research.
2010	Basic	Douglas L. Coleman Douglas L. Coleman Douglas L. Coleman is a scientist at The Jackson Laboratory. His discovery of the hormone leptin and its role in regulating body weight has had a major role in the area of human obesity....	discovery of leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite and body weight - a breakthrough that opened obesity research to molecular exploration.
		Jeffrey M. Friedman Jeffrey M. Friedman Jeffrey Friedman, MD, PhD, is a molecular geneticist at New York City's Rockefeller University. His discovery of the hormone leptin and its role in regulating body weight has had a major role in the area of human obesity.-Biography:...
	Clinical	Napoleone Ferrara Napoleone Ferrara Napoleone Ferrara, M.D., Ph.D. is an Italian-American molecular biologist and is currently a Genentech Fellow in tumor biology and angiogenesis. He is credited with identifying the human VEGF gene and describing its proangiogenic properties, which formed the basis for the development of Genentech's...	discovery of VEGF as a major mediator of angiogenesis and the development of an effective anti-VEGF therapy for wet macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in the elderly.
	Special Achievement	David Weatherall David Weatherall Sir David John Weatherall is a British physician and researcher in molecular genetics, haematology, pathology and clinical medicine....	for 50 years of international statesmanship in biomedical science - exemplified by discoveries concerning genetic diseases of the blood and for leadership in improving clinical care for thousands of children with thalassemia throughout the developing world.
2009	Basic	John Gurdon John Gurdon Sir John Bertrand Gurdon , FRS is a British developmental biologist. He is best known for his pioneering research in nuclear transplantation and cloning. He was recently awarded the Lasker Award.-Career:...	discoveries concerning nuclear reprogramming, the process that instructs specialized adult cells to form early stem cells — creating the potential to become any type of mature cell for experimental or therapeutic purposes.
		Shinya Yamanaka Shinya Yamanaka is a Japanese physician and adult stem cell researcher. He serves as the director of Center for iPS Cell Research and Application and a professor at the Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences at Kyoto University, as a senior investigator at the UCSF-affiliated J...
	Clinical	Brian Druker Brian Druker Brian J. Druker is a physician-scientist at the Oregon Health & Science University. He is the director of OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research, and professor of medicine...	the development of molecularly-targeted treatments for chronic myeloid leukemia, converting a fatal cancer into a manageable chronic condition.
		Nicholas Lydon Nicholas Lydon Nicholas B. Lydon is a British scientist and entrepreneur. He won 2009 Lasker Clinical Award for the development of Gleevec, a selective BCR-ABL inhibitor for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia ....
		Charles Sawyers Charles Sawyers Charles L. Sawyers is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a physician-scientist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. His work in the lab builds on the success of molecularly targeted cancer drugs with a focus on developing a new generation of treatment options for...
	Public Service	Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...	employing sound science in political decision making; setting a world standard for the public's health as an impetus for government action; leading the way to reduce the scourge of tobacco use; and advancing public health through enlightened philanthropy.
2008	Basic	Victor Ambros Victor Ambros Victor Ambros is an American developmental biologist who discovered the first known microRNA . He is a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts.-Background:...	discoveries that revealed an unanticipated world of tiny RNAs that regulate gene function in plants and animals.
		David Baulcombe David Charles Baulcombe Sir David Charles Baulcombe, FRS is a British plant scientist and geneticist. He is currently Royal Society Research Professor and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge.- Biography :...
		Gary Ruvkun Gary Ruvkun Gary Ruvkun is an American molecular biologist and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Ruvkun discovered the mechanism by which lin-4, the first microRNA discovered by Victor Ambros, regulates the translation of target messenger RNAs via imperfect base-pairing to those...
	Clinical	Akira Endo	the discovery of the statins — drugs with remarkable LDL-cholesterol-lowering properties that have revolutionized the prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease.
	Special Achievement	Stanley Falkow Stanley Falkow Stanley Falkow, PhD, is microbiologist and a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is sometimes referred to as the father of molecular microbial pathogenesis, which is the study of how infectious microbes and host cells interact to cause disease at...	a 51-year career as one of the great microbe hunters of all time — he discovered the molecular nature of antibiotic resistance, revolutionized the way we think about how pathogens cause disease, and mentored more than 100 students, many of whom are now distinguished leaders in the fields of microbiology and infectious diseases.
2007	Basic	Ralph Steinman Ralph M. Steinman Ralph Marvin Steinman was a Canadian immunologist and cell biologist at Rockefeller University, who in 1973 coined the term dendritic cells while working as a postdoc in the lab of Zanvil A. Cohn, also at Rockefeller University....	the discovery of dendritic cells—the preeminent component of the immune system that initiates and regulates the body's response to foreign antigens.
	Clinical	Alain Carpentier Alain F. Carpentier Alain Frédéric Carpentier M.D. Ph.D. is a French surgeon whom the President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery calls the father of modern mitral valve repair. He is the recipient of the 2007 Lasker Prize.-Biography:A professor emeritus at Pierre and Marie Curie University, in the...	the development of prosthetic mitral and aortic valves, which have prolonged and enhanced the lives of millions of people with heart disease.
		Albert Starr Albert Starr Albert Starr , is a noted cardiovascular surgeon and pioneer, inventor of the Starr heart valve, who resides and practices in the Portland, Oregon area. Starr is Medical Director of the Providence Heart and Vascular Institute. Albert Starr was born on June 1, 1926, in New York, New York. He...
	Public Service	Anthony Fauci Anthony Fauci Anthony S. Fauci is an immunologist who has made substantial contributions to research in the areas of AIDS and other immunodeficiencies, both as a scientist and as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases .-Education and career:Anthony Stephen Fauci was born on...	his role as the principal architect of two major U.S. governmental programs, one aimed at AIDS and the other at biodefense.
2006	Basic	Elizabeth Blackburn Elizabeth Blackburn Elizabeth Helen Blackburn, AC, FRS is an Australian-born American biological researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies the telomere, a structure at the end of chromosomes that protects the chromosome. Blackburn co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes the...	the prediction and discovery of telomerase, a remarkable RNA-containing enzyme that synthesizes the ends of chromosomes, protecting them and maintaining the integrity of the genome
		Carol Greider Carol W. Greider Carolyn Widney "Carol" Greider is an American molecular biologist. She is Daniel Nathans Professor and Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins University. She discovered the enzyme telomerase in 1984, when she was a graduate student of Elizabeth Blackburn at the University of...
		Jack Szostak Jack W. Szostak Jack William Szostak is a Canadian American biologist of Polish British descent and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Alexander Rich Distinguished Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. He was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, along with...
	Clinical	Aaron Beck	the development of cognitive therapy Cognitive therapy Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present... , which has transformed the understanding and treatment of many psychiatric conditions, including depression, suicidal behavior, generalized anxiety, panic attacks, and eating disorders.
	Special Achievement	Joseph Gall Joseph G. Gall Joseph Grafton Gall is an American cell biologist and winner of the 2006 Albert Lasker Special Achievement Award. He also won the 2007 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize...	a distinguished 57-year career - as a founder of modern cell biology and the field of chromosome structure and function; bold experimentalist; inventor of in situ hybridization; and early champion of women in science.
2005	Basic	Ernest McCulloch Ernest McCulloch Ernest Armstrong McCulloch, OC, O.Ont, FRSC was a University of Toronto cellular biologist, best known for demonstrating – with James Till – the existence of stem cells.-Biography:...	ingenious experiments that first identified a stem cell - the blood-forming stem cell - which set the stage for all current research on adult and embryonic stem cells.
		James Till James Till James Edgar Till, OC, O.Ont, FRSC is a University of Toronto biophysicist, best known for demonstrating – with Ernest McCulloch – the existence of stem cells.-Early work:...
	Clinical	Alec John Jeffreys	development of two powerful technologies - Southern hybridization Southern blot A Southern blot is a method routinely used in molecular biology for detection of a specific DNA sequence in DNA samples. Southern blotting combines transfer of electrophoresis-separated DNA fragments to a filter membrane and subsequent fragment detection by probe hybridization. The method is named...  and DNA fingerprinting - that together revolutionized human genetics and forensic diagnostics.
		Edwin Mellor Southern
	Public Service	Nancy Brinker Nancy Brinker Nancy Goodman Brinker is the founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an organization named after her only sister, Susan, who died from breast cancer in 1980 at age 36. Brinker was also United States Ambassador to Hungary from 2001 to 2003 and Chief of Protocol of the United States from...	creating one of the world's great foundations devoted to curing breast cancer and for dramatically increasing public awareness about this devastating disease.
2004	Basic	Pierre Chambon	the discovery of the superfamily of nuclear hormone receptors and elucidation of a unifying mechanism that regulates embryonic development and diverse metabolic pathways.
		Ronald M. Evans Ronald M. Evans Ronald M. Evans is an American professor and biologist who works at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. He received his BS and PhD degrees from UCLA, followed by a postdoctoral training in Rockefeller University...
		Elwood V. Jensen Elwood V. Jensen Elwood V. Jensen is the Distinguished University Professor, George and Elizabeth Wile Chair in Cancer Research at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine's Vontz Center for Molecular Studies. In 2004 he received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research for his research on...
	Clinical	Charles Kelman Charles Kelman Charles D. Kelman was an ophthalmologist and a pioneer in cataract surgery.Kelman was born in Brooklyn, New York to David and Eva Kelman. He grew up in Queens where he attended Forest Hills High School. After graduation, he attended Boston's Tufts University, where he earned a B.S...	revolutionizing the surgical removal of cataracts, turning a 10-day hospital stay into an outpatient procedure, and dramatically reducing complications.
	Special Achievement	Matthew Meselson Matthew Meselson Matthew Stanley Meselson is an American geneticist and molecular biologist whose research was important in showing how DNA replicates, recombines and is repaired in cells. In his mature years, he has been an active chemical and biological weapons activist and consultant...	a lifetime career that combines penetrating discovery in molecular biology with creative leadership in the public policy of chemical and biological weapons.
2003	Basic	Robert G. Roeder Robert G. Roeder Robert G. Roeder is an American biologist. He is known as a pioneer in eukaryotic transcription. He is the recipient of the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 2000 and the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2003...	pioneering studies on eukaryotic RNA polymerases and the general transcriptional machinery, which opened gene expression in animal cells to biochemical analysis.
	Clinical	Marc Feldmann Marc Feldmann Sir Marc Feldmann is an Australian immunologist, and a professor at the Imperial College School of Medicine where he is a head of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology.-Biography:...	discovery of anti-TNF TNF inhibitor Tumor necrosis factor promotes the inflammatory response, which in turn causes many of the clinical problems associated with autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa and refractory asthma. These disorders are...  therapy as an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...  and other autoimmune disease Autoimmune disease Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body actually attacks its own cells. The immune system mistakes some part of the body as a pathogen and attacks it. This may be restricted to... s.
		Ravinder N. Maini Ravinder N. Maini Sir Ravinder Nath Maini is rheumatology professor at the Kennedy Institute, part of Imperial College London. Maini was born in Ludhiana in the Punjab region of India but has lived most of his life in the UK...
	Public Service	Christopher Reeve Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...	perceptive, sustained, and heroic advocacy for medical research in general, and victims of disability in particular.
2002	Basic	James E. Rothman	discoveries revealing the universal molecular machinery that orchestrates the budding and fusion of membrane vesicles - a process essential to organelle formation, nutrient uptake, and secretion of hormones and neurotransmitters.
		Randy W. Schekman
	Clinical	Willem J. Kolff	development of renal hemodialysis, which changed kidney failure from a fatal to a treatable disease, prolonging the useful lives of millions of patients.
		Belding H. Scribner Belding H. Scribner Belding Hibbard Scribner was a U.S. physician and a pioneer in kidney dialysis.-Biography:Scribner received his medical degree from Stanford University in 1945. After completing his postgraduate studies at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, he joined the faculty of the School of Medicine at...
	Special Achievement	James E. Darnell, Jr.	for an exceptional career in biomedical science during which he opened two fields in biology - RNA processing and cytokine signaling - and fostered the development of many creative scientists.
2001	Basic	Mario R. Capecchi	development of a powerful technology for manipulating the mouse genome with exquisite precision, which allows the creation of animal models of human disease.
		Martin J. Evans
		Oliver Smithies Oliver Smithies Oliver Smithies is a British-born American geneticist and Nobel laureate, credited with the invention of gel electrophoresis in 1955, and the simultaneous discovery, with Mario Capecchi and Martin Evans, of the technique of homologous recombination of transgenic DNA with genomic DNA, a much more...
	Clinical	Robert G. Edwards	development of in vitro fertilization, a technological advance that has revolutionized the treatment of human infertility.
	Public Service	William H. Foege	for courageous leadership in improving worldwide public health, and his prominent role in the eradication of smallpox.
2000	Basic	Aaron Ciechanover Aaron Ciechanover Aaron Ciechanover is an Israeli biologist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.- Biography :Ciechanover was born in Haifa, British mandate of Palestine, a year before the establishment of the State of Israel...	for the discovery and recognition of the broad significance of the ubiquitin system of regulated protein degradation, a fundamental process that influences vital cellular events, including the cell cycle, malignant transformation, and responses to inflammation and immunity.
		Avram Hershko Avram Hershko Avram Hershko is a Hungarian-Israeli biochemist and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.-Biography:Born Herskó Ferenc in Karcag, Hungary, Hershko emigrated to Israel in 1950. Received his M.D. in 1965 and his Ph.D in 1969 from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel...
		Alexander Varshavsky Alexander Varshavsky Alexander Varshavsky is a Russian-American biochemist and recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Wolf Prize in Medicine and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize　from Columbia University in 2001 for his research on ubiquitination...
	Clinical	Harvey J. Alter Harvey J. Alter Harvey J. Alter is an American medical researcher, virologist, and physician who is best known for his work that led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus....	discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C and the development of screening methods that reduced the risk of blood transfusion-associated hepatitis in the U.S. from 30% in 1970 to virtually zero in 2000.
		Michael Houghton Michael Houghton Michael Alan Houghton was Bishop of Ebbsfleet from 1998 to 1999.Houghton was born on 14 June 1949 and educated at the University of Lancaster. He worked for British Rail and as a teacher before studying for the priesthood. He was a curate at All Hallows' Wellingborough followed by a period...
	Special Achievement	Sydney Brenner Sydney Brenner Sydney Brenner, CH FRS is a South African biologist and a 2002 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate, shared with H...	for 50 years of brilliant creativity in biomedical science - exemplified by his legendary work on the genetic code; his daring introduction of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans as a system for tracing the birth and death of every cell in a living animal; his rational voice in the debate on recombinant DNA; and his trenchant wit.