The Award selection committee, nominated by Dr. Per Peterson, chairman, research & development, pharmaceutical group at Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Harlan Weisman, company group chairman, research & development, pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson, and Dr. Theodore Torphy, corporate vice president, science and technology at Johnson & Johnson, includes:
"We are very pleased to establish the Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research in recognition of Dr. Paul's many pioneering contributions to the field of medicine, and to have enlisted such a world-renowned selection committee to identify a scientist who perfectly embodies the tradition of his scientific excellence," said Dr. Peterson. "The Dr. Paul Janssen Award seeks to promote, recognize and reward the same passion and creativity that allowed Dr. Paul to move the boundaries of medical science and to touch the lives of millions of people. We are especially proud of the global composition of the search committee, which represents today's rapidly evolving scientific research community."
The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research aims to extend the legacy of Dr. Paul by honoring the work of an active scientist in academia, industry or a scientific institute. Given every two years, the Award includes a $100,000 prize and will acknowledge the work of an individual who has made a significant, transformational contribution toward the improvement of human health. According to guidelines agreed to by the selection committee, the recipient of the Award will:
The first Award will be presented in September 2006 at the Dr. Paul Janssen Biomedical Research Scientific Symposium and Award Program to be held in Beerse, Belgium, where Janssen Pharmaceutica was first established. The symposium will also commemorate the 80th anniversary of Dr. Paul's birth. In November 2004, to honor Dr. Paul's work in neuroscience, Johnson & Johnson announced a grant of $5 million to Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) to fund a special scholars program focusing on acceleration of drug discovery and therapeutics for brain-related diseases such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy. The grant established the Paul Janssen Scholars Program in Translational Neuroscience and the partnership between Johnson & Johnson and CUMC builds a valuable bridge to support the work of translational researchers.
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