Dr. Inder Verma named recipient of 2008 Vilcek Prize in biomedic...( New York February 6 2008 - The Vilce...),Health

New York, February 6, 2008 - The Vilcek Foundation has announced the names of the recipients of its annual prizes in biomedical research and in the arts. Dr. Inder Verma is the prize recipient for biomedical science; the prize recipient for the arts is composer Osvaldo Golijov. The Vilcek Foundation Prizes are awarded annually to foreign-born individuals for extraordinary contributions to society in the United States.

In explaining the motivation for the awards, Dr. Jan T. Vilcek, President of The Vilcek Foundation said, We should not have to be reminded of how much America owes to people who were born abroad, but we do. Historically, the United States has innumerable foreign-born individuals to thank for establishing it as a leader in the sciences and arts, and in many other fields as well. In awarding The Vilcek Foundation Prizes, our primary objective is to raise awareness of that reality. We should not forget that so much of what this country takes credit for is the achievement of immigrants.

Marica Vilcek, Vice-President of the Foundation, added: As the only foundation to recognize the outstanding contributions of foreign-born individuals to the biomedical sciences and the arts, we are in a privileged position to shine a spotlight on leaders such as Dr. Verma and Mr. Golijov, whose achievements we are pleased to honor this year.

A $50,000 cash award and a commemorative trophy created by designer Stefan Sagmeister will be presented to Dr. Verma and Mr. Golijov during The Foundations third annual awards dinner on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York. The two prize winners were chosen by independent panels of experts.

Dr. Inder M. Verma is an American Cancer Society Professor of Molecular Biology in the Laboratory of Genetics at The Salk Institute in La Jolla, California and one of the world's leading authorities on the development and use of
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