Innovators in Science Award

The nominee must:

• Have been engaged in active research for a length of time of 10 years or less since gaining their doctorate degree or equivalent*.
• Hold a doctorate degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.).
• Currently hold a junior level Post-doctoral or Faculty position at an invited academic, government, or non-profit institution or equivalent.
• Have made impactful research contributions and show exceptional promise for significant future achievement in the Award field.

*In the event that an Early-Career Scientist nominee has taken a maternity, paternity, adoptive, family care, military, or extended sick leave (in line with the policies of the institution that granted the leave) during the 10 years since gaining their doctoral degree or equivalent, they can qualify for an extension of the eligibility timeframe of up to two (2) years. Additionally, exceptions for up to four (4) years of additional clinical training (e.g. clinical residency or fellowship) will be considered on a case-by-case basis if it is deemed essential to the nominee’s current research program. Instructions regarding how to request an extension are provided in the Requesting an Eligibility Exception section.

The nominee must:

• Have been engaged in active research for a length of time of more than 10 years since gaining their doctorate degree or equivalent.
• Hold a doctorate degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.).
• Currently hold a senior level Faculty position at an invited academic, government, or non-profit institution or equivalent.
• Have made multiple, extensive, and impactful research contributions to advance the Award field.

Research Support from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, and its affiliates

Individuals in receipt of current or prior research support from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, or its affiliates, are not eligible for nomination if the research support was in excess of US$10,000 (or equivalent in local currency) and was received within the last four (4) calendar years (2019-2023).

• The monetary limit of US$10,000 includes equity, however non-monetary transfers of value (e.g., meals, lodging) would not be considered a conflict of interest (COI) if received on their own from Takeda.
• This COI encompasses direct Takeda support/engagement with the nomination candidate, as well as direct Takeda support/engagement of a specific project or research that the nomination candidate is involved in.
• General support from Takeda, or its affiliates, for a nominee’s institution/organization or laboratory (including donation or general funding) does not constitute a COI.
• Nominees may be asked to disclose any payments (including equity) received in 2019-2022 from Takeda (or affiliates) in excess of US$10,000 (or equivalent).
• For a comprehensive listing of affiliates, please visit: https://www.takeda.com/who-we-are/company-information/worldwide-offices/

Government Employees

Government entities, employees, or officials may serve as eligible nominating bodies, nominators, or nominees. At the time of application, nominators must certify that the nominee has obtained the necessary required approval from their Agency supporting their eligibility to be nominated for the Innovators in Science Award. Government employees or officials will also be required to certify that their participation and acceptance as a nominee of this Award program does not violate their Agency rules and regulations.

There are no residency or citizenship requirements to be nominated for the Innovators in Science Award.

A nominee’s eligibility timeframe may be extended by a maximum of two (2) years due to a formal period (or periods) of leave. Extensions of up to four (4) years for additional clinical training will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The maximum total period of extension is six (6) years. If an eligibility exception request is approved, a letter of approval from the New York Academy of Sciences will be provided via email to the nominating institution in advance of the nomination deadline, and will be required to be uploaded with the other Nomination Materials at the time of nomination.

Any request to extend a nominee’s period of eligibility must:

• Be made in writing by the nominating institution and approved by the New York Academy of Sciences in advance of the submission of the nomination.
• Be submitted on institutional letterhead via email by the institution’s designee by 11:59PM ET on Friday, March 17, 2023 (two weeks in advance of the nomination deadline).
• Indicate the date that the prospective nominee received their doctoral degree or equivalent.
• Outline the standard policy of the institution that granted the leave (this may be different from the nominating institution) with regard to the relevant exception period (e.g., maternity, paternity, adoptive, family care, military, or extended sick leave).
• Indicate the total period of time resulting from cumulative maternity, paternity, adoptive, family care, military, or extended sick leave during the period of time since the nominee gained their doctoral degree or equivalent and/or indicate the total period of time resulting from additional clinical training.
• If requesting an exception for additional clinical training: Please include a brief description of the prospective nominee’s research program and why the additional clinical training was required for the nominee to competently conduct this research. Please also attach the prospective nominee’s CV.

• February 1, 2023: Nominations open for 2024 Innovators in Science Award
• April 14, 2023, 11:59PM ET: Nominations close for 2024 Innovators in Science Award
• April 21, 2023, 11:59PM ET: Letters of Support due for 2024 Innovators in Science Award
• December 2023: 2024 Innovators in Science Award Winners announced
• April 2024: 2024 Innovators in Science Awards conferred

Nominations must be submitted using the online nomination system between Wednesday, February 1, 2023 and Friday, April 14, 2023, 11:59PM ET.

The 2024 Innovators in Science Award research focus area is Cancer Immunology. At the time of nomination, nominators will be required to select one (1) primary Cancer Immunology category that best represents the focus area of a nominee’s research. To view the list, please click here.

The Rationale for Nomination is a 200-word statement that explains why the nominee has been selected as the institutional nominee based on their strong record of significant independent scientific contributions, career success, and promise of sustained or accelerated progress in the future.

The Rationale should address the nominee’s research according to the Quality, Impact, Novelty, and Promise evaluation criteria described above.

Download Example

Label file: LastName_FirstName-CV.pdf

• Four (4) pages maximum.
• Full name, current institution(s), and position title.
• Education and training – List institutions, degrees, years, and fields of study; include postdoctoral training or residency, if applicable.
• Employment history.
• Honors and awards – List honors and awards with years when they were received.
• Select peer-reviewed publications – List only published work or manuscripts in press authored during independent career; do not include manuscripts that are submitted or in preparation. Conference abstracts and proceedings should only be included if they are the primary way of disseminating new results in the nominee’s field. Please use the MEDLINE/PubMed citation format.
• Select patents – List patents and patent applications, if applicable, with years.
• Research grants – List funding for the main ongoing and completed projects on which the nominee is a Principal Investigator (PI) or a co-PI.

Label file: LastName_FirstName-Summary.pdf

A 1,000-word maximum summary of up to five (5) of the nominee’s most significant scientific contributions and research accomplishments. Key results, their impact on the nominee’s field of study, and the nominee’s specific role in the described work should be included. Information about the nominee’s positions, awards, and service activities should be excluded. One figure illustrating the most significant results is allowed. Citations and figure caption do not count toward the word limit.

(Required for Early-Career Scientist Nominees, only)

Label file: LastName_FirstName-Future.pdf

A brief summary of the nominee’s future research plans (500-words maximum).

Label files: LastName_FirstName-Pub1.pdf, etc.

Full-text published papers or filed patents representing the nominee’s best work (four publications maximum). Each publication file should not be larger than 10MB.

Letters of support should:

• Be a maximum of two (2) pages, single-spaced, and uploaded as PDF files.
• Describe the nominee’s most significant research contributions according to the Quality, Impact, Novelty, and Promise criteria, and explain their importance for the nominee’s research area.
• Assess the nominee’s accomplishments in comparison with those of their peers at the same career stage.
• Focus on the nominee’s scientific accomplishments during their independent career.
• Letter Writers will also be asked to submit a brief multiple-choice questionnaire.

In 2016, the New York Academy of Sciences and Takeda announced the establishment of the Innovators in Science Award. The Award recognizes a promising Early-Career Scientist's and an outstanding Senior Scientist's contributions to biomedical science and is intended to support their commitment to innovative research. Two prizes of US$200,000 are awarded each Award cycle, in a specific therapeutic area, one to an Early-Career Scientist and the other to a well-established Senior Scientist from around the world. The winning scientists have distinguished themselves for the creativity and impact of their research.

The 2024 Innovators in Science Award area of focus is Cancer Immunology. At the time of nomination, nominators will be required to select, from the list here, one (1) primary Cancer Immunology category that best represents the focus area of a nominee's research.

Two (2) Winners of the Innovators in Science Award, one (1) Early-Career Scientist and one (1) Senior Scientist, will each receive US$200,000 each Award cycle that is intended to support their commitment to innovative research. The Award money is given directly to each awardee. Indirect costs are not applied to the Award.

Nominees and their work as independent investigators will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Early-Career Scientist

• Quality: The extent to which the work is reliable, valid, credible, and scientifically rigorous.

• Impact: The extent to which the work represents a significant contribution in basic, translational, or clinical research that has impacted, or has strong potential to impact, human health through the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease.

• Novelty: The extent to which the work challenges existing paradigms, employs innovative new methodologies or concepts, and/or pursues an original question.

• Promise: The extent to which the nominee has made innovative research contributions and shows exceptional promise for significant future achievement in the Award field.

Senior Scientist

• Quality: The extent to which the work is reliable, valid, credible, and scientifically rigorous.

• Impact: The extent to which the work represents a significant contribution in basic, translational, or clinical research that has impacted, or has strong potential to impact, human health through the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease.

• Novelty: The extent to which the work challenges existing paradigms, employs new innovative methodologies or concepts, and/or pursues an original question.

• Promise: The extent to which the nominee has made impactful research contributions and future prospects for further significant contributions in the Award field.

Approximately 500 international academic institutions are invited to submit nominations. In addition, we also welcome nominations from government or non-profit institutions or equivalent around the world.

For universities or research institutions that are distinct legal entities from the university/institution or medical center/school, both entities are each welcome to nominate up to two (2) candidates for consideration: one (1) Early-Career Scientist and one (1) Senior Scientist.

If your institution is not listed and would like to nominate, we welcome submission of a brief statement of interest to TakedaInnovators@nyas.org.

Each institution may submit up to two (2) nominations per Award cycle, one (1) for an Early-Career Scientist and one (1) for a Senior Scientist in the single therapeutic area of focus for that Award cycle.

Prospective nominees must be conducting research at one of the invited institutions, or a government or non-profit institution, or equivalent. The following additional eligibility criteria apply:

Early-Career Scientist

The nominee must:

• Have been engaged in active research for a length of time of 10 years or less since gaining their doctorate degree or equivalent*.
• Hold a doctorate degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.).
• Currently hold a junior level Post-doctoral or Faculty position at an invited academic, government, or non-profit institution or equivalent.
• Have made impactful research contributions and show exceptional promise for significant future achievement in the Award field.

*In the event that an Early-Career Scientist nominee has taken a maternity, paternity, adoptive, family care, military, or extended sick leave (in line with the policies of the institution that granted the leave) during the 10 years since gaining their doctoral degree or equivalent, they can qualify for an extension of the eligibility timeframe of up to two (2) years. Exceptions for up to four (4) years of additional clinical training (e.g. clinical residency or fellowship) will be considered on a case-by-case basis if it is deemed essential to the nominee’s current research program. Instructions regarding how to request an extension are provided in the Guidelines section.

Senior Scientist

The nominee must:

• Have been engaged in active research for a length of time of more than 10 years since gaining their doctorate degree or equivalent.

• Hold a doctorate degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.).

• Currently hold a senior level Faculty position at an invited academic, government, or non-profit institution or equivalent.

• Have made multiple, extensive, and impactful research contributions to advance the Award field.

Research Support from Takeda and its affiliates

Individuals in receipt of current or prior research support from Takeda, or its affiliates, are not eligible for nomination if the research support was in excess of US$10,000 (or equivalent in local currency) and was received within the last four (4) calendar years (2019-2023).

• The monetary limit of US$10,000 includes equity, however non-monetary transfers of value (e.g., meals, lodging) would not be considered a conflict of interest (COI) if received on their own from Takeda.
• This COI encompasses direct Takeda support/engagement with the nomination candidate, as well as direct Takeda support/engagement of a specific project or research that the nomination candidate is involved in.
• General support from Takeda, or its affiliates, for a nominee’s institution/organization or laboratory (including donation or general funding) does not constitute a COI.
• Nominees may be asked to disclose any payments (including equity) received in 2019-2022 from Takeda (or affiliates) in excess of US$10,000 (or equivalent).

For a comprehensive listing of affiliates, please visit: https://www.takeda.com/who-we-are/company-information/worldwide-offices/.

Government Employees

Government entities, employees, or officials may serve as eligible nominating bodies, nominators, or nominees. At the time of application, nominators must certify that the nominee has obtained the necessary required approval from his/her Agency supporting their eligibility to be nominated for the Innovators in Science Award. Government employees or officials will also be required to certify that their participation and acceptance as a nominee of this Award program does not violate his/her Agency rules and regulations.

There are no residency or citizenship requirements to be nominated for the Innovators in Science Award.

The New York Academy of Sciences welcomes nominees from underrepresented groups in science and medicine.

Institutional nominations must be submitted online by the President (or equivalent), Provost, or the official designee of the nominee's host institution. If you have not informed the Awards team of your designee, please send a brief statement to TakedaInnovators@nyas.org naming the official designees as nominators before submitting nominations.

The nominators fill out the nomination form, upload all required materials, and provide the names of two Letter of Support writers. The Letter of Support writers then receive emails with instructions on uploading their letters and filling out a short questionnaire. For more details, please refer to the nomination Guidelines.​

The online nomination system may be accessed on the Award Overview page during the nomination period.

Wednesday, February 1, 2023: Nominations open

Friday, April 14, 2023, 11:59PM ET: Nominations close

Friday, April 21, 2023, 11:59PM ET: Letters of Support due

The following documents and information are required to submit a nomination:

• Nominee's name, date of birth, title, and contact information.

• Nominator's name, title, and contact information.

• Nominator's Rationale for Nomination: Statement explaining why the nominee has been selected by the institution (200-word maximum, text).

• Nominee's Curriculum Vitae (4-page maximum, PDF).

• Nominee's Research Summary (1,000-word maximum, PDF).

• Nominee's Future Research Plan (500-word maximum, PDF) [required of Early-Career Scientist nominees only].

• Full-text publications and/or patents representing the nominee's work (up to 4 publications, PDF).

• Names and email addresses for two letter writers familiar with the nominee's scientific contributions, who will provide Letters of Support and fill out a short questionnaire.

• If an eligibility exception request has been pre-approved by the New York Academy of Sciences, the letter of approval provided to the nominator will be required to be uploaded with the other Nomination Materials at the time of nomination.

All nominations must be submitted in the English language.

Once the nominator submits the nomination form, two Letters of Support and short questionnaire are still necessary to complete the nomination. Letter writers will receive automatic emails with instructions on uploading their letters and filling out the questionnaire. The nomination is complete once both letters have been uploaded and the questionnaire has been submitted. The Letters of Support must be uploaded by April 21, 2023, 11:59PM ET. Nominators may view the status of the letters of support and questionnaire by logging into their account within the nomination portal.

Letter of Support writers should be people who currently have or have had a close professional relationship with the nominee and are knowledgeable about the nominee's contribution to their field of research, focusing on the nominee's independent research career.

Letters of Support should:

• Be a maximum of two (2) pages, single-spaced, and uploaded as PDF files.

• Describe the nominee's most significant research contributions according to the Quality, Impact, Novelty, and Promise criteria, and explain their importance for the nominee's research area.

• Assess the nominee's accomplishments in comparison with those of their peers at the same career stage.

• Focus on the nominee's scientific accomplishments during their independent career.

The nominator enters the names and email addresses into the nomination form, which triggers automatic emails to be sent to the letter writers with instructions on how to upload their letters and complete the short questionnaire. For the 2024 Award, letter writers are responsible for submitting letters and the questionnaire online before April 21, 2023, 11:59PM ET.

Once both Letters of Support and short questionnaire have been submitted, the nominator and nominee will receive automated notifications via email. Writer materials are confidential: neither the nominator nor the nominee will be able to view the contents of the letters. Nominators may view the status of the Letters of Support by logging into their account.

No. All evaluations are kept confidential and no feedback will be provided.

For the 2024 Award, the Winners and their respective institutions will be notified in January 2024. Nominees who do not win (and their institutions) will be notified by the Academy at the time of the public announcement of Winners, in January 2024.

2024 Award Winners are expected to:

• Attend the Innovators in Science Award Ceremony in Boston, MA, USA in April 2024*
• Deliver a research lecture at the Innovators in Science Award Symposium in Boston in April 2024*
• Participate in Innovators in Science Award related media activities and inquiries (e.g. video interviews, magazine profile interviews, eBriefings, etc.)

*Costs of round–trip travel to Boston for the events will be covered through the Innovators in Science Award Program.

Award recipients based in the U.S.

Yes. Applicable U.S. tax laws require any Award payments made under this program to be subject to federal income tax. U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations require that the Academy has a completed Form W-9 on file for all Award recipients prior to the distribution of the Award. Further details regarding the secure submission of this information to the Academy will be provided to Awardees at the time of Award notification. Award recipients will receive a 1099-MISC Form that reports your Award payment as Miscellaneous Income to the IRS. Award recipients should consult with their U.S. tax advisor regarding any tax questions.

Award recipients based outside of the U.S.

Yes. Applicable U.S. tax laws require any Award payments made under this program to be subject to federal income tax. U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations require that the Academy has a completed Form W-8BEN on file for any Award recipient that is not a U.S. citizen or other U.S. person, including a resident alien individual, prior to the distribution of the Award. Further details regarding the secure submission of this information to the Academy will be provided to Awardees at the time of Award notification. Award recipients should consult with their tax advisor regarding any tax questions, including any income tax treaty between the U.S. and their country of residence.

Please contact the Innovators in Science Award staff at TakedaInnovators@nyas.org or +1.212.298.8642 during regular business hours: Monday – Friday between 9:00AM and 5:00PM ET.