Call for Applications: 2021 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

  • 03/11/20

NEW YORK, NY – The Vilcek Foundation has issued an open call for applications for the 2021 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. The prizes honor emerging foreign-born professionals living and working in the United States who have demonstrated significant accomplishments early in their careers. Three winners will be selected; each will receive a commemorative award and an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000, intended to support them at a crucial point in their career.

"The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science celebrate the stellar early-career achievements of foreign-born scientists," says Jan Vilcek, chairman and CEO of the Vilcek Foundation. "Immigrant scientists have long contributed to the United States' position as a world leader in scientific research and discovery."

Candidates must be independent researchers in the biomedical sciences who are directly responsible for the development and execution of work submitted for consideration: primary investigators, laboratory directors or research directors; they should not be graduate students or postdoctoral fellows working under the supervision of a mentor. Eligible candidates should hold a full-time position within an academic institution or a research organization. To be eligible, applicants must have been born outside of the United States; be 38 years of age or younger as of December 31, 2020; and hold a doctoral degree (M.D., Ph.D., or equivalent).

Eligible candidates must submit an application form, a curriculum vitae, authored works, three short personal essays and proof of immigration status. Recipients of DACA are welcome to apply. Applications will be accepted from March 2 to June 10, 2020, 5 p.m. EDT. The application and full eligibility requirements are available at this link.

A panel of distinguished experts identified by the Vilcek Foundation will evaluate each applicant's accomplishments, including the quality and creativity of the work submitted, the clarity of each applicant's stated personal and professional purpose and the potential for positive impact on the field of research and on society at large.

The three winners selected will be notified in late summer 2020; announcements of the awards will be made in the fall of 2020, and honored at the Vilcek Foundation's annual awards gala in spring 2021.

Three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise will also be awarded to immigrants in filmmaking. Since the inception of the Vilcek Foundation Prize Program, over $5 million has been awarded in prizes to immigrants from around the world. For more information about the Vilcek Foundation Prize Program, visit vilcek.org.

The Vilcek Foundation
The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation, to honor immigrant contributions to the U.S., and more broadly, to foster appreciation of the arts and sciences, was inspired by the couple's respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $5.1 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and supported organizations with over $5 million in grants. The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRC Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.

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