NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson & Johnson today announced that it is accepting nominations for The 2008 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research. Nominations will be accepted on-line at http://www.pauljanssenaward.com until December 1, 2007, and the winner will be announced in September 2008.
Johnson & Johnson also announced that two more Nobel Laureates, Dr. Linda B. Buck and Dr. Craig C. Mello, have joined the esteemed seven-member independent selection committee that will name the Award's 2008 recipient.
Established in 2004, and first awarded last year, The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research honors Dr. Paul Janssen, founder of Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Johnson & Johnson company, and one of the most productive scientists of the 20th century. The award also recognizes scientists whose work has the potential to make significant contribution toward the improvement of human health. Given every two years, the award includes a $100,000 cash prize to recipients chosen by the independent selection committee.
"Dr. Paul, as many of us knew him, was first and foremost a scientific leader who believed that in medicine, anything is possible," said Paul Stoffels, M.D., who worked under Dr. Paul while at Janssen Pharmaceutica and is now company group chairman, Research and Development, Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson. "At the time of his death in 2003, Dr. Paul had contributed to the discovery and development of more than 80 medicines that have helped save millions of lives. The purpose of The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research is to ensure that his legacy is passed to an unending succession of world-class biomedical research scientists for years to come."
The inaugural Dr. Paul Janssen award went last year to Dr. Mello of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Mello subsequently won the Nobel Prize later that year for the same work, along with his colleague Dr. Andrew Fire of Stanford University.
"We are delighted that Dr. Mello has now joined the selection committee for the 2008 Award, and are confident that the Committee will once again find recipients who embody the creativity and passion for science that Dr. Paul exemplified," said Harlan Weisman, M.D., Chief Science and Technology Officer, Medical Devices and Diagnostics, Johnson & Johnson.
"The Selection Committee looks forward to finding the scientist or scientists whose work and research has the potential to help millions of people while epitomizing the passion, leadership and innovation that defined Dr. Janssen's career," said Solomon Snyder, Chair of the 2008 Dr. Paul Janssen Award Selection Committee. "We are also pleased to welcome Dr. Buck and Dr. Mello to the selection committee, which is comprised of the many of the best and most accomplished people in science today."
Dr. Buck, associate director, Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, was a co-recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work on olfactory receptors. Dr. Buck, whose primary focus is on how odors are recognized in the nose and interpreted in the brain, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2003.
Dr. Mello was co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in the discovery of "RNA interference - gene silencing by double-stranded RNA." Among his other honors, Dr. Mello has earned Brandeis University's Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Medical Research, the Canadian government's Gairdner International Award and the prestigious Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize.
In addition to Drs. Buck and Mello, the 2008 Award Selection Committee includes:
-- Dr. Solomon Snyder (Chairman of the 2008 Award Selection Committee), professor and past director of the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1978 co-winner of the Albert Lasker Award, 2003 winner of the National Medal of Science. -- Dr. Jean Marie Lehn, professor, College de France, 1987 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. -- Dr. Hartmut Michel, director, department of Molecular Membrane Biology, University of Frankfurt, 1988 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. -- Dr. Edward Scolnick, former president of Merck Research Laboratories, Merck and Company, now director of the Psychiatry Initiative at the Broad Institute, member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine. -- Sir Richard Sykes, former chief executive officer of GlaxoWellcome, now rector of Imperial College, London, fellow of the Royal Society, honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
About The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research
The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research was established by Johnson & Johnson in 2004 to honor Dr. Paul Janssen, founder of Janssen Pharmaceutica and one of the most innovative, creative, and productive scientists of the 20th century. At the time of his death in 2003, Dr. Paul had contributed to the discovery and development of more than 80 medicines that have helped save millions of lives. The Award is designed to acknowledge a scientist from anywhere in the world whose work has the potential to make a significant transformational contribution toward the improvement of human health. Given every two years, the Award includes a $100,000 cash prize to recipients chosen by an independent selection committee composed of world- leading scientists and clinicians. According to guidelines agreed to by the selection committee, the Award recipient will:
-- Have made a significant contribution to biomedical research that has impacted, or has strong potential to impact human health, through the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease -- Be an active scientist (basic or clinical) in academia, industry or a scientific institute who exhibits the standards of innovation, insight and leadership that Dr. Paul exemplified during his career. -- Provide a living example that the study of science and technology can enable an extended, healthy, and productive life. -- Recognize an individual scientist, but may share the award between two individuals in circumstances in which the contributions of the individuals are viewed as significant and of equal importance. -- Display a set of ethical values consistent with the values that drive Johnson & Johnson.
For more information about Dr. Paul Janssen, the Award and the nomination process, please go to http://www.pauljanssenaward.com/.
About Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is the world's most comprehensive and broadly based manufacturer of health care products, as well as a provider of related services, for the consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices and diagnostics markets. The more than 250 Johnson & Johnson operating companies
employ approximately 121,000 men and women in 57 countries and sell products throughout the world.
Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Services, L.L.C.CONTACT: Seema Kumar, +1-908-218-6460, seema@prdus.jnj.com; FrederikWittock - Belgium, +32-14-60-57-24, fwittock@prdbe.jnj.com; Mark Krajnak -United States, +1-908-704-5906, mkrajnak@prdus.jnj.com, all of Johnson &Johnson Pharmaceutical Services, L.L.C.
Web site: http://www.pauljanssenaward.com/
