Awardees (1990-2023)

About the Prize

The International Prize for Translational Neuroscience of the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation is one of the most prominent international prizes for translational neuroscience. The prize is endowed with 60,000 Euro. It recognizes outstanding biomedical scientists and clinicians who have made outstanding original contributions to translational neuroscience with the goal of contributing through fundamental research to increased understanding of neurobiology and neurological disease. Nominees should be individuals whose »seminal discoveries and major scientific contributions constitute an original and significant achievement in translational neuroscience«. The prize does not recognize a lifetime of work and is usually shared by two scientists who made outstanding discoveries in either basic or clinical neuroscience. It includes the development of novel therapies for neurological diseases. Up to now, more than 60 awards, previously called »Klaus Joachim Zülch-Preis«, have been bestowed on laureates from 12 countries.

In 2019, historical research on behalf of the German Society of Neurology (DGN), which was supported by the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation, has revealed that Prof. Zülch was an active supporter of the National Socialist ideology. Only now, thirty years after Klaus-Joachim Zülch’s death, historians have access to additional records and files. The historical studies unveiled not only his activities during the Nazi regime but also before the National Socialist takeover in 1933. A detailed report in German language by a medical historian, Prof. Axel Karenberg (University Cologne) has now been published (Martin, M., Fangerau, H. & Karenberg, A. Die zwei Lebensläufe des Klaus Joachim Zülch (1910–1988). Nervenarzt 91, 61–70 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-019-00819-6).

Despite Prof. Zülch’s indisputable scientific achievements and vision, the members of the Board of the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation decided – after detailed discussion and careful consideration of the new findings from a moral and ethical point of view - to discontinue bestowing a Prize in his name and to rename the award »International Prize for Translational Neuroscience of the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation«.

Nominations for the prize shall only be submitted by invited nominators, research organizations, universities as well as university hospitals; self nominations for the award are excluded.

Awardees (1990-2023)

2023

• Botond Roska
  University of Basel, Switzerland
• José-Alain Sahel
  University of Pittsburgh, USA, Université Sorbonne, France

2022

• Huda Zoghbi
  Baylor College of Medicine, USA
• Adrian Bird
  University of Edinburgh, Scotland

2021

• Hai Yan
  Duke University Durham, USA
• Andreas von Deimling
  University of Heidelberg, Germany

2020

• Mathias Jucker
  University of Tübingen, Germany
• Maiken Nedergaard
  University of Rochester, USA
• Roy O. Weller
  University of Southampton, UK
  

2019

• Adrian R. Krainer
  Cold Spring Harbor University, USA
• Richard S. Finkel
  Nemours Children’s Hospital Orlando, USA

2018

• Angela Vincent
  Oxford University, UK
• Josep Dalmau
  University of Pennsylvania, USA,
  University of Barcelona, ES
• Jerome Posner
  Cornell University, USA

2017

• Steven Laureys
  University and University Hospital of Liège, Belgium
• Giulio Tononi
  University of Wisconsin, USA

2016

• Stefan Pfister
  German Cancer Research Center and Heidelberg University Hospital,
  Germany
• Dr. Michael Taylor
  Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada

2015

• Winfried Denk
  Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany

2014

• Jeffrey Friedman
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics,
  The Rockefeller University, New York, USA
• Sir Stephen O’Rahilly
  Metabolic Research Laboratories,
  Department of Clinical Biochemistry,
  University of Cambridge, UK

2013

• Raymond Dolan
  Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging, University College London, UK
• Wolfram Schultz
  University of Cambridge, UK

2012

• Ernst Bamberg
  Max Planck Institute of Biophysics,
  Frankfurt, Germany
• Karl Deisseroth
  Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
• Peter Hegemann
  Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
• Georg Nagel
  University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

2011

• Thomas Gasser
  University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
• Robert L. Nussbaum
  University of San Francisco, California, USA

2010

• Alastair Compston
  Cambridge University, UK
• Hans Lassmann
  University of Vienna, Austria

2009

• Daniel R. Weinberger
  National Institute of Mental Health,
  Bethesda, MD, USA
• Florian Holsboer
  Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry,
  Munich, Germany

2008

• Darell D. Bigner
  Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
• David Neil Louis
  Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

2007

• Graeme M. Clark
  University of Melbourne, Australia
• John P. Donoghue
  Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

2006

• David Julius
  University of California,
  San Francisco, CA, USA
• Peter Jannetta
  University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA

2005

• Samuel F. Berkovic
  University of Melbourne, Australia
• Christian E. Elger
  University of Bonn, Germany

2004

• Richard R. S. Frackowiak
  University College London, UK
• Nikos K. Logothetis
  Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany

2003

• Katsuhiko Mikoshiba
  University of Tokyo, Japan
• Fred H. Gage
  Salk Institut, La Jolla, CA, USA

2002

• Michael M. Merzenich
  University of California,
  San Francisco, CA, USA
• Martin E. Schwab
  University of Zurich, Switzerland

2001

• Prof. Dr. Gillian Patricia Bates
  King’s College London, UK
• Prof. Dr. Jean-Louis Mandel
  University of Strasbourg, France

2000

• Alim Louis Benabid
  University of Grenoble, France
• George Alvin Ojemann
  University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

1999

• Thomas J. Jentsch
  Universität Hamburg, Germany
• Hartmut Wekerle
  Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology,
  Martinsried, Germany

1998

• Konrad Sandhoff
  University of Bonn, Germany
• Wilhelm Stoffel
  University of Cologne, Köln, Germany

1997

• Stanley B. Prusiner
  University of San Francisco, CA, USA
• Charles Weissmann
  University of Zurich, Switzerland

1996

• Konstantin-Alexander Hossmann
  Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research,
  Köln, Germany
• Michael A. Moskowitz
  Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

1995

• Konrad Beyreuther
  Heidelberg University, Germany
• Colin L. Masters
  University of Melbourne, Australia

1994

• Wolf-Dieter Heiss
  Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research,
  Köln, Germany
• Wolf Singer
  Max Planck Institute for Brain Research,
  Frankfurt, Germany

1993

• David Ingvar
  Lund University, Sweden
• Lindsay Symon
  Institute of Neurology, London, UK

1992

• Otto Creutzfeldt
  Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry,
  Göttingen, Germany
• Bo K. Siesjö
  Lund University, Sweden

1991

• Paul Kleihues
  University of Zurich, Switzerland
• Georg Kreutzberg
  Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry,
  Munich, Germany

1990

• Lars Olson
  Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
• Anders Björklund
  Lund University, Sweden