Awards, Oct 02, 2008

The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas:

Health. The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation (New York) has announced the winners of the 2008 Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards, which honor basic and clinical medical research and public service on behalf of such research. The Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research went to Victor R. Ambros, a professor of molecular medicine at the U. of Massachusets Medical Center (Worcester); David C. Baulcombe, a professor of botany at the U. of Cambridge (England); and Gary B. Ruvkun, a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston) and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School (Cambridge, Mass.). They discovered tiny RNA’s that regulate gene function.

The Lasker-DeBakey Award for Clinical Medical Research went to Akira Endo, director of Biopharm Research Laboratories (Tokyo), who discovered the first statin. Statins, which are the most widely prescribed medications in the United States, significantly lower cholesterol levels in the blood.

The Lasker-Koshland Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science, which is awarded every two years, went to Stanley Falkow, professor of microbiology, immunology, and medicine at Stanford U. School of Medicine (Calif.), for his contributions to the world’s knowledge of disease-causing microbes.

The winners each received a $300,000 honorarium.

Social entrepreneurship. The Manhattan Institute (New York) has announced the five recipients of its Social Entrepreneurship Award, which honors nonprofit leaders who have developed programs that seek to solve social problems in America.

The winners, whose groups each receive $25,000:

— Richard Grausman, founder and president of C-CAP (Careers Through Culinary Arts Program) (New York), which encourages high-school students to consider careers in the restaurant and hospitality industry.

— Rachel Lloyd, founder and director of GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services) (New York), which helps young girls get out of the commercial-sex industry.

— Susan McWhinney-Morse, founder of Beacon Hill Village (Boston), which helps elderly people remain in their homes within the Beacon Hill neighborhood and continue active lives.

— Zach Rosenberg, founder and co-director of the St. Bernard Project (New Orleans), which has found low-cost ways to rebuild more than 135 homes that were damaged in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and enlisted thousands of volunteers in the project.

— Robert L. Woodson Sr., founder and president of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise (Washington), which encourages inner-city adults to work in schools in their neighborhoods on efforts to reduce youth violence.

In addition, the institute presented its William E. Simon Lifetime Achievement Award for social entrepreneurship. The $100,000 prize went to George T. McDonald, founder and president of the Doe Fund (New York) whose mission is to help homeless and formerly incarcerated people achieve permanent financial self-sufficiency.