SPR Award in Honor of E. Mead Johnson
The SPR Award in Honor of E. Mead Johnson is the most prestigious honor given by the Society for Pediatric Research® (SPR). Established in 1939, this annual award recognizes outstanding achievements in pediatric research across clinical, translational, laboratory, and health services research. It celebrates a diverse community of investigators making lasting contributions to child health.
Sponsored by Mead Johnson Nutrition, the award honors E. Mead Johnson’s legacy of research excellence and impact on child health that continues to inspire the pediatric community.
Submission Timeline: August 15 – September 30
Award sponsored by
Award
- One recipient is selected annually
- Formal recognition at the PAS Meeting
- Economy-level travel expenses, hotel accommodation for up to 4 nights
- Complimentary registration to the PAS Meeting will be provided
- Honorarium provided after the PAS Meeting
Eligibility Criteria
- Hold an academic faculty position for at least 7 years, but not more than 20 years
- Demonstrate a strong record of independent productivity and innovation in child health research, supported by:
- Publications
- Grant funding
- National or International recognition
Nomination Requirements
Current Curriculum Vitae of the Nominee
- Bibliography of published works of the nominee, with an asterisk next to the most significant contributions
- Research funding history
Detailed Letter of Nomination
- Originality and impact of the nominee’s research work
- Value of research output in contributing knowledge to the overall field of pediatrics – include references to literature where appropriate
- National or international recognition and leadership positions held by the nominee
Two Letters of Support
- One letter must be from outside the nominee’s institution
- Additional support letters should not be from direct collaborators/co-authors of the nominee or from supervisors
Three Recent Papers (published within the last 5 years)
- Selected articles should reflect the nominee’s most impactful or innovative work
- Selection of these works is a major point of evaluation
Selection Process
- The Committee for the SPR Award in Honor of E. Mead Johnson will be solely responsible for recipient selection
- Members of the selection committee are not permitted to nominate or support any nominations
- The award will only be granted when there are eligible candidates
- The award is supported by Mead Johnson Nutrition
- The award winner will be under no obligation to Mead Johnson Nutrition
Current Recipient
Katherine Y. King MD, PhD, is Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, where she is part of the faculty for the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center and serves as Co-Director of the BCM Medical Scientist Training Program. Dr. King received her BA in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University and her MD and PhD degrees from Washington University in St. Louis.
Katherine Y. King, MD, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital
- 2024 | Daniel E. Bauer, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
- 2023 | Audrey Odom John, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- 2022 | Vijay Sankaran, Boston Children’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School
- 2021 | Sallie Permar, Duke University School of Medicine
- 2020 | No awardee: PAS 2020 was cancelled.
- 2019 | Joshua D. Milner, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
- 2018 | Helen Su, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
- 2017 | Jordan S. Orange, Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital
- 2016 | Kimberly Stegmaier, Boston Children’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School
Sing Sing Way, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital - 2015 | Ophir David Klein, University of California, San Francisco
Loren D. Walensky, Children’s Hospital – Boston / Harvard Medical School - 2014 | Atul Butte, Stanford University
John Vance Williams, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine - 2013 | William T. Pu, Children’s Hospital Boston
Bradley L. Schlaggar, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis - 2012 | Scott Armstrong, Harvard Medical School, Children’s Hospital Boston, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Nicholas Katsanis, Duke University - 2011 | Joel Hirschhorn, Children’s Hospital Boston
Eric Vilain, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles - 2010 | Jean-Laurent Casanova, The Rockefeller University Hospital
Fernando Pedro Polack, Vanderbilt University - 2009 | George Q. Daley, Children’s Hospital
Brendan Lee, Baylor College of Medicine - 2008 |Todd R. Golub, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Victor Nizet, University of California, San Diego & Rady Children’s Hospital - 2007 | Marc E. Rothenberg, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati
Deepak Srivastava, Gladstone Institute, University of California, San Francisco - 2006 |James E. Crowe, Jr., Vanderbilt University Medical Center
David Pellman, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute - 2005 |Elizabeth C. Engle, Children’s Hospital Boston
Terence R. Flotte, University of Florida - 2004 |Bruce D. Gelb, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Friedhelm Hildebrandt, University of Michigan - 2003 | Gregory S. Barsh, Stanford University School of Medicine
Val C. Sheffield, University of Iowa - 2002 | Nancy C. Andrews, Children’s Hospital
Markus Grompe, Oregon Health Sciences University - 2001 | Alan D. D’Andrea, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Steve A.N. Goldstein, Yale University School of Medicine - 2000 | Mark A. Kay, Stanford University
Gregg L. Semenza, Johns Hopkins University - 1999 | Steven H. Abman, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Chaim M. Roifman, The Hospital for Sick Children - 1998 | Jonathan D. Gitlin, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis
James R. Lupski, Baylor College of Medicine
Jeffrey C. Murray, University of Iowa College of Medicine - 1997 | Donald Y.M. Leung, National Jewish Center for Immunology & Respiratory Medicine
Elaine Tuomanen, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital - 1996 | Perrin C. White, U.T. Southwestern Medical Center
Huda Y. Zoghbi, Baylor College of Medicine - 1995 | Margaret K. Hostetter, University of Minnesota
Alan M. Krensky, Stanford University - 1994 | David A. Williams, Indiana University Medical Center
David H. Perlmutter, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis - 1993 | Edward R.B. McCabe, Baylor College of Medicine
Alan L. Schwartz, Washington University, St. Louis - 1992 | Ann Margaret Arvin, Stanford University Medical Center
Francis S. Collins, University of Michigan Medical Center
Lap-Chee Tsui, Hospital for Sick Children, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis - 1991 | Louis M. Kunkel, Harvard Medical School
Ronald G. Worton, University of Toronto - 1990 | Gregory A. Grabowski, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
Arnold W. Strauss, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis - 1989 | Steven M. Reppert, Massachusetts General Hospital
Robert H. Yolken, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine - 1988 | Jeffrey A. Whitsett, Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Barry Wolf, Medical College of Virginia - 1987 | Donald C. Anderson, Baylor College of Medicine
Stuart H. Orkin, The Children’s Hospital - 1986 | Raif Salim Geha, Harvard Medical School
Alan H. Jobe, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance - 1985 | Russell W. Chesney, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine
Augustine Joseph D’Ercole, University of North Carolina - 1984 | Jan L. Breslow, Harvard Medical School
John A. Phillips, III, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine - 1983 | Laurence A. Boxer, University of Michigan School of Medicine
Samuel E. Lux, IV, Harvard Medical School - 1982 | Larry J. Shapiro, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Campus, Torrance
Jerry A. Winkelstein, Johns Hopkins Hospital - 1981 | Robert J. Desnick, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
Erwin W. Gelfand, Hospital for Sick Children - 1980 | R. Michael Blaese, National Institutes of Health
S. Michael Mauer, University of Minnesota - 1979 | Philip L. Ballard, University of California, San Francisco
Harvey R. Colten, Children’s Hospital Medical Center - 1978 | Samuel A. Latt, Harvard Medical School
Pearay L. Ogra, State University of New York at Buffalo - 1977 | Arthur J. Ammann, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco
Michael E. Miller, UCLA School of Medicine, Torrance - 1976 | Haig H. Kazazian, Jr., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
David Lawrence Rimoin, UCLA School of Medicine, Torrance - 1975 | John B. Robbins, National Institutes of Health
David H. Smith, Harvard Medical School
Rawle M. McIntosh, University of Colorado Medical Center - 1974 | Andre J. Nahmias, Emory University School of Medicine
E. Richard Stiehm, University of California School of Medicine, Los Angeles - 1973 | Henry L. Nadler, Northwestern University School of Medicine
James G. White, University of Minnesota School of Medicine - 1972 | Chester M. Edelmann, Jr., Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Frank A. Oski, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine - 1971 | Paul G. Quie, University of Minnesota
Fred S. Rosen, Children’s Hospital Medical Center - 1970 | Myron Winick, New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center
Joseph A. Bellanti, Georgetown University School of Medicine - 1969 | Frederick C. Battaglia, University of Colorado Medical Center
Gerard B. Odell, Johns Hopkins Hospital - 1968 | Mary Ellen Avery, Johns Hopkins Hospital
Charles R. Scriver, Montreal Children’s Hospital - 1967 | Henry Neil Kirkman, Jr., University of North Carolina
Henry M. Meyer, Jr., National Institutes of Health
Paul D. Parkman, National Institutes of Health - 1966 | William H. Tooley, University of California Medical Center, San Francisco
Robert W. Winters, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons - 1965 | David Y.-Y Hsia, Northwestern University Medical School
L. Stanley James, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons - 1964 | Robert M. Chanock, National Institutes of Health
Abraham M. Rudolph, Albert Einstein College of Medicine - 1963 | D. Carleton Gajdusek, National Institutes of Health
Richard T. Smith, University of Florida College of Medicine - 1962 | Park S. Gerald, Harvard Medical School
Robert L. Vernier, University of Minnesota Medical School - 1961 | Lytt Irvine Gardner, Upstate Medical Center
Donald E. Pickering, University of Oregon Medical School - 1960 | Robert A. Aldrich, University of Washington School of Medicine
Irving Schulman, Northwestern University Medical School - 1959 | C. Henry Kempe, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Barton Childs, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine - 1958 | William A. Silverman, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Norman Kretchmer, Cornell University Medical College - 1957 | Alfred M. Bongiovanni, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Walter R. Eberlein, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Albert Dorfman, University of Chicago School of Medicine - 1956 | David Gitlin, Harvard Medical School
Arnall Patz, District of Columbia General Hospital and Sinai Hospital of Baltimore - 1955 | Robert A. Good, University of Minnesota School of Medicine
- 1954 | Robert E. Cooke, Yale University School of Medicine
Vincent C. Kelley, University of Utah College of Medicine - 1953 | Frederick C. Robbins, Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Thomas H. Weller, Harvard Medical School
Margaret H. Smith, Tulane University School of Medicine - 1952 | Seymour S. Cohen, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Orvar Swenson, Tufts College Medical School
Edward B.D. Neuhauser, Harvard Medical School - 1951 | William M. Wallace, Harvard Medical School
Victor A. Najjar, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine - 1950 | Charles D. May, State University of Iowa
Harry Shwachman, Harvard Medical School
Gertrude Henle, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Werner Henle, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine - 1949 | Nathan B. Talbot, Harvard Medical School
Henry L. Barnett, Cornell University Medical College - 1948 | Wolf W. Zuelzer, Wayne University College of Medicine
Benjamin M. Spock, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, NY - 1947 | Helen B. Taussig, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Louis K. Diamond, Harvard Medical School - 1946 | Horace L. Hodes, Sydenham Hospital
Paul A. Harper, Medical Corps, United States Army - 1944 | Fuller Albright, Harvard Medical School
- 1943 | Hattie E. Alexander, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Philip Levine, Newark, NJ - 1942 | David Bodian, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Howard A. Howe, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Harold E. Harrison, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Helen C. Harrison, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine - 1941 | René J. Dubos, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research
Albert S. Sabin, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine - 1940 | Robert E. Gross, Harvard Medical School
Lee E. Farr, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research - 1939 | Frederic A. Gibbs, Harvard Medical School
Dorothy H. Anderson, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons