Prizes play a big role in advancing scientific breakthroughs. However, many major awards honor well-established scientists who are usually in the least need of recognition and funding, squeezing out opportunities for up and coming researchers.
After top experts retire, who will replace them?
In 2013, Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation answered the call. The Barancik Prize for Innovation in Multiple Sclerosis Research was established as an annual prize recognizing an exceptional scientist or team whose work in MS research has demonstrated outstanding innovation and originality. The award is intended for early- to mid-career MS researchers with no more than 20 years of experience.
Designed to impact the potential pathway for treatment and cure for MS, the $100,000 prize can be used at the discretion of the recipient.
Amit Bar-Or, MD, the Melissa and Paul Anderson President’s Distinguished Professor of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is the 2021 recipient of the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research. He is being honored for work uncovering how the immune system drives MS and for cutting-edge research focusing on precision medicine to achieve long-term remission and ultimately preventing progression of the disease.
Learn more by watching this recap of the 2021 Barancik Prize at the ACTRIMS Forum:
