News Release

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

NIH Director, Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., recognizes 20 NIH recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)

"I'm very pleased that the White House has selected 20 NIH funded scientists for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers Award. This is indeed a great honor. These individuals have only recently received an NIH research grant or been appointed to a tenure track position within the NIH Intramural Program, but they have already shown exceptional productivity and promise."

PECASE is the nation's highest honor for scientists at the beginning of their professional careers. Since the program began in 1996, NIH has funded a total of 193 PECASE recipients. The NIH awardees will take their place along with 94 other highly accomplished scientists from a total of 16 federal agencies. Of the 20 NIH honorees, 17 are new investigators working at institutions around our nation. The others have positions in the NIH Intramural Programs. A complete list of NIH-supported PECASE recipients and program information is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/pecase.htm. Awardees will be honored by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony later this year.

The White House announcement is available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/26/president-obama-honors-outstanding-early-career-scientists.

The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH. Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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