Foundation Awards $250,000 to Excellence Award Alumni
October 27, 2022
We are pleased to announce that the Foundation will award a quarter million dollars to a brilliant researcher in the biomedical space. The prize will be given at the 30th Anniversary of the Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research next week.
The inaugural Richard A. Smith Excellence in Biomedical Research Alumni Prize will be awarded to program alumna Dr. Emily Balskus of Harvard University for her contributions to advancing human health through her research into the microbiome.
Dr. Balskus is an alumna of the Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research, founded by the late Richard Smith and his wife, Susan, to support and launch the careers of newly independent biomedical researchers. Their goal and the continued aim of the program is to help scientists at this early stage of their careers — a critical time when support is most needed.
Since 1992, we have funded 187 scientists for a total investment of $40.1 million. Other recipients of the Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research include:
- Jay Bradner, President of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research
- Ian Cheeseman, Faculty member at the Whitehead Institute
- Piyush Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO at Naveris
- Matthew Vander Heiden, Director of the Koch Institute of Integrated Cancer Research at MIT
- Tyler Jacks, Founding Executive Director of the Koch Institute of Integrated Cancer Research at MIT; and the Co-Director of the Ludwig Center at MIT
- Ankur Jain, Faculty member at the Whitehead Institute
- Melissa Moore, Chief Science Officer at Moderna
- Peter Reddien, Faculty member at the Whitehead Institute
- Silvia Rouskin, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School
- Beth Stevens, Associate Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School; Associate Professor of Neurology at the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children’s Hospital
“I received my very first grant from the Smith Family Foundation, and the support allowed me, and my research group, to venture into an area that was new to us – the human gut microbiome. That initial opportunity had a huge impact on the overall direction of our research program.”
Emily P. Balskus, PhD
Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of Chemistry, Harvard University;
Howard HughEs Medical Institute Investigator
