Prize

The Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, in association with Harvard Medical School, recognizes and honors one or more scientists, physicians and researchers whose scientific achievements have led to the prevention, cure, or treatment of human disorders or for seminal research that holds great promise to change our ability to treat disease.
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History of the Prize

The prize was established in 1987 by the late philanthropist and businessman, Warren Alpert and the Warren Alpert Foundation. The Warren Alpert Prize is given internationally and since its inception, sixteen Nobel Prize winners have received the award. The prize is administered in concert with Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts and the Warren Alpert Foundation, located in Providence, Rhode Island. An annual scientific symposium is held at Harvard Medical School each fall in honor of the recipient(s).

Prize Value

The value of the prize is U.S. $500,000 (to be split equally if more than one recipient is selected). A special scientific symposium in honor of the recipient(s) is held each October at Harvard Medical School.

Selection Process

Prize recipients are selected by the Foundation's Scientific Advisory Committee, comprising internationally renowned biomedical scientists and chaired by the Dean of Harvard Medical School.

Learn about the nomination process
Contact Our Staff

For questions regarding nominations and symposium, please contact:

Edward Canton

warrenalpertprize@hms.harvard.edu

617-432-2116

For questions about the Foundation not related to the prize, please contact: the Warren Alpert Foundation

For questions about the prize, please contact us.

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I am delighted to be in such good company—and I’m not talking just about my co-laureates. Many of my scientific heroes are among the previous recipients of the Prize.
- Gero Miesenböck

Gero Miesenböck | 2019 Recipient

Gero Miesenböck is Waynflete Professor of Physiology and founding Director of the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at the University of Oxford. Before coming to Oxford in 2007, he held faculty appointments at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Yale University. Miesenböck was the first scientist to modify neurons genetically so that their electrical activity could be controlled with light. This involved inserting DNA for light-responsive opsin proteins into the cells. He used similar genetic modifications to breed animals whose brains contained light-responsive neurons integrated into their circuitry and was the first to demonstrate that the behavior of these animals could be remote-controlled. Miesenböck has received many awards for the invention of optogenetics, including the InBev-Baillet Latour International Health Prize, the Brain Prize, the Heinrich Wieland Prize, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, and the Massry Prize. He is a member of the Austrian and German Academies of Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

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