Nearly 50 of the world's top public health experts and several hundred leaders in science, medicine, philanthropy, and business joined the New York Academy of Sciences for its 2006 Science & the City Gala, which celebrated the launch of NYAS' Scientists Without Borders^SM initiative.

The event, centered on the theme "Mobilizing Science for Global Health," honored three organizations with the Science for Global Health Award for Leadership and Scientific Excellence, and bestowed its annual Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in New York City on a distinguished New York City researcher who is also making great contributions to global health.

Scientists Without Borders

The November 14 event raised more than $1 million for the Academy and its newest initiative, Scientists Without Borders^SM, which was officially launched here.

Calling the Academy a "world-class bridge-builder between people and institutions from across the globe," President Ellis Rubinstein thanked the event's many donors. Especially generous support came from Merck & Co., Inc. and an anonymous donor. Mission partners include Access Industries, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C., and Pfizer Inc. Benefactors are Abbott Laboratories, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., William T. Golden, the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, and Novo Nordisk. Patrons include Lundbeck Research USA, Inc., Schering-Plough Corporation, and Michael Schmertzler.

Academy Chairman Peter Corr, PhD, Senior Vice President, Science & Technology, Pfizer Inc, noted that NYAS' goal is to support science and scientists in New York and beyond. "Going forward," he said, "the Academy will play an increasingly important role in generating scientific ideas and partnerships not only here in New York but around the world."

That theme was echoed by U.N. General Assembly President H.E. Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, who made a special appearance to congratulate the evening's honorees and commended the Academy on its Scientists Without Borders^SM program. "In the spirit of the United Nations charter, your work can foster closer ties between communities of academic teachers and students and the developing world in advancing public health," she said.

International science

Honored with the 2006 Science & The City Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in New York City was Richard Axel, MD, of Columbia University, whom Rubinstein called the "quintessential basic researcher and the quintessential product of New York." Dr. Axel, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Linda Buck in 2004 and recently won a Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Grant to pursue research into blocking the scent of human blood in the malarial mosquito, said he occasionally gets emails from young scientists asking how they too can win a Nobel Prize. He gave this formula: "You grow up amidst the intensity and excitement of New York City. You're educated in its public schools. You study in a most beautifully appointed place—the reading room of the NY Public Library on 42nd St. You allow Stuyvesant High School to nourish a voracious appetite for knowledge, you attend Columbia College … Finally, you continue your research at Columbia University in a culture in which discovery is not only an obsession but a joy."

Dr. Axel accepted the award "in trust, with all of the scientists and all of the science students in New York City."

Three organizations were honored with the Academy's Science for Global Health Award for Leadership and Scientific Excellence:

• The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the UN Millennium Project, which was commissioned in 2002 by the U.N. Secretary-General to develop a concrete plan of action to reduce extreme hunger, disease and poverty worldwide by the year 2015. The award was accepted by Jeffrey Sachs, PhD, who directs both the project and the institute.

  Although saying he was proud to be honored, Dr. Sachs challenged the audience to "put this wonderful award in abeyance. Let's make sure before we accept it, all together, that we achieve these goals. We are the generation that can end extreme poverty. Let's do it."

• GlaxoSmithKline, for its "singular dedication and activism in the service of global health, through science and philanthropy." Madeleine Jacobs, American Chemical Society CEO and Academy Governor, presented the award to GlaxoSmithKline CEO Jean Pierre Garnier, PhD. "Glaxo's global contributions have included providing medicines to regions devastated by the Asian tsunami, the earthquake in Pakistan, and the crises in Sudan and West Africa," Jacobs said.

  Its many ongoing public health programs are aimed at battling Malaria and HIV/AIDS. GlaxoSmithKline has distinguished itself as both a global scientific resource and corporate citizen, investing the equivalent of $725 million worldwide in 2005 alone."

  Accepting the award, Dr. Garnier explained that "a company today must have a soul. Just making money is not going to cut it any more." He said he tells GlaxoSmithKline employees that they "can change the world for millions of patients. You can bring them health and quality of life."

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for its outstanding global development and health initiatives and for supporting programs that create greater opportunity in the U.S. Seth Berkley, MD, president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, who presented the award to Gates Foundation Special Project Officer Neil McDonnell, PharmD, said the foundation "has proven itself uniquely powerful in seeking and finding practical, affordable, and effective ways to alleviate human suffering."

  Dr. McDonnell, saying he was pleased to see so many Gates grantees and partners in the room, called the Scientists Without Borders^SM initiative an "innovative idea that will bring the best minds to tackle the toughest problems in public health," and one "that will be building on the new momentum behind global health initiatives."

Also honored at the event were the three talented New York City high school juniors—Gena Rozenberg, Natasha Plotkin, and Avishai Don—who won this year's Nobel Essay Contest and will be traveling to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in December.