This award recognizes especially meritorious research contributions by an individual in a specific area of clinical chemistry. The clinical chemists who have received this award have achieved national and international status for their pioneering efforts in an area of research considered fundamental to the science and have been considered among the world’s foremost experts in that specific discipline.
Congratulations to This Year's Winner!
Michael Y Tsai, PhD, FAACC, FAHA
Dr. Tsai is a professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota where he began his career as the director of the Biochemical Genetics Laboratory. His study of homocystinuria led him to partially sequencing the cystathionine-beta-synthase (CBS) gene in the 1990s and discovery of a large number of novel mutations in the CBS gene. This work significantly contributed to the understanding of genetic predisposition to hyperhomocysteinemia as well as the importance of hyperhomocysteinemia as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and venous thrombosis. At the same time, he began the study of lipoprotein subspecies as a CVD risk factor. This continued with the more recent publications on the use of apolipoprotein B (ApoB) and small dense LDL-C as risk enhancing factors. In addition, Dr. Tsai focused his study on lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)), demonstrating that Lp(a) is not only a risk factor of CAD, but also strongly associated with such diseases as aortic valve stenosis, heart failure and atrial fibrillation. ApoB and Lp(a) were both recently recognized as risk-enhancing factors by the 2018 AHA/ACC multi-society guidelines, and the use of these biomarkers are increasingly changing the clinical practice of CVD prevention.
Previous Winners
2022 - Rossa W.K. Chiu, PhD
2021 - Qing H. Meng, PhD
2020 - Ann M. Gronowski, PhD
2019 - Khosrow Adeli, PhD
2018 - Allan Jaffe, MD
2017 - Jerry Katzmann, PhD
2016 - Martin Fleisher, PhD
2015 - Daniel W. Chan, PhD
2014 - Mario Plebani, MD
2013 - Gregory J. Tsongalis, PhD
2012 - Yuk-Ming Dennis Lo, MD
2011 - Peter C. Nowell
2010 - Robin A. Felder, PhD
2009 - Fred S. Apple, PhD
2008 - Marilyn A. Huestis, PhD
2007 - Michael J. Bennett, PhD
2006 - Hugo Katus, MD
2005 - David B. Sacks, MD
2004 - Carl Wittwer, PhD
2003 - Ishwarlal Jialal, PhD
2002 - Jack H. Ladenson, PhD
2001 - James L. Wittliff, MD, PhD
2000 - Alfred H. Free, PhD
1999 - Eleftherios P. Diamandis, MD, PhD
1998 - Larry Kricka, PhD
1997 - Edwin F. Ullman, PhD
1996 - James C. Sternberg, PhD
1995 - John Albers, PhD
1994 - Ronald J. Elin, PhD
1993 - Kary B. Mullis
1992 - Walter Dandliker
1991 - Arthur Karmen, MD
1990 - Larry D. Bowers, PhD
1989 - Leland Charles Clark Jr, PhD
1989 - John W. Severinghaus, MD
1989 - Richard W. Stow, PhD
1988 - Herbert K. Naito, PhD
1987 - David E. Bruns, MD
1986 - Helen K. Berry
1985 - Peter Jatlow, MD
1984 - Robert B. McComb, PhD
1983 - Basil T. Doumas, PhD
1982 - Charles E. Pippenger, PhD
1981 - J. Stanton King, PhD
1980 - Charles D. Scott, PhD
1979 - Robert Schaffer, PhD
1978 - Harry L. Pardue, PhD
1977 - Theodore Peters, PhD
1976 - Nathan O. Kaplan, PhD
1975 - Rosalyn S. Yalow, PhD
1974 - Lena Armstrong Lewis, PhD
1973 - George N. Bowers, MD