Kaplan Award
Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize for Advancement in the Understanding of Polycystic Kidney Disease
The Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize for Advancement recognizes an individual(s) whose seminal scientific work constitutes tangible achievement toward improving knowledge and treatment of PKD. More than one prize may be awarded, and it may be awarded to residents of any country without restriction.
Award-winner 2024
Michael Caplan, M.D., Ph.D.
C.N.H. Long Professor and Chair of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and Professor of Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine
Professor Caplan earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1980, and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale in 1987, working in the laboratories of James D. Jamieson and George Palade. He joined Yale’s Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology as a faculty member in 1988. He received a fellowship from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, a National Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, and the Young Investigator Awards from the American Physiological Society and the American Society of Nephrologists. He has delivered the American Physiological Society’s Carl W. Gottschalk Distinguished Lectureship and was elected to membership in the American Association of Physicians. He was humbled to receive Yale Medical School’s Bohmfalk Prize for teaching and to be selected as the first recipient of Yale University’s Award for Postdoctoral Mentorship.
Professor Caplan’s laboratory studies Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease, a prevalent and serious genetic disorder and a major cause of kidney failure. The Caplan laboratory is working to understand the mechanisms responsible for this condition and to identify targets for new therapies.
Commenting on his award he says, “I am thrilled, honored and deeply humbled. I am also extremely grateful to the wonderful co-workers in my own laboratory and to collaborators around the world for their tremendous help and support.”
Nominations for 2025
Nominations for the 2025 award are due August 2024.
Nomination requirements:
- Your details: complete name, ISN membership number, and contact information
- Nominee details: complete name (as listed in publications) and contact information
- Support statement: a description of how and why the nominee’s work represents a major advance in basic or clinical understanding of PKD, distinguishing those aspects which clearly set it apart from the work of others in the field, and a summary of the nominee’s contributions
- Full curriculum vitae and bibliography of the nominee
- Letters of support: at least two
All nominations and supporting materials are to be sent via email to Jo-Ann Donner at jdonner@theisn.org.
Winners are selected by the Lillian Jean Kaplan Prize Advisory Committee: Committee Chair Dr. Vicente Torres, two committee members selected by the PKD Foundation, and two ISN members.
Past award recipients
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2023
Terry J. Watnick, MD
University of Maryland Baltimore
Baltimore, MD
2022
Alessandra Boletta, Ph.D.
San Raffaele Scientific Institute
Italy
Albert Chee Meng Ong, B.M.B.Ch., M.A., D.M., F.R.C.P.
University of Sheffield
United Kingdom
2021
Kyongtae (Ty) Bae, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
2020
Arlene Chapman, M.D.
University of Chicago
Chicago
2019
York Pei, M.D.
University of Toronto
Canada
Bradley Yoder, Ph.D.
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Ala.
2017
Ronald D. Perrone, M.D.
Tufts Medical Center
Boston
David R. Beier, M.D., Ph.D.
Seattle Children’s Research
Seattle
2015
Peter Igarashi, M.D.
University of Minnesota Medical School
Minneapolis
Gregory J. Pazour, Ph.D.
University of Massachussetts Medical School
Worcester, Mass.
2013
Vincent Gattone, Ph.D.
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis
Dorien Peters, Ph.D.
Leiden University Medical Center
Leiden, Netherlands
2011
Gerd Walz, M.D.
Freiburg Medical Center
Germany
James Calvet, Ph.D.
University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City, Kan.
2009
Lisa Guay-Woodford, M.D.
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Ala.
Corinne Antignac, M.D., Ph.D.
Necker Hospital
Paris
Friedhelm Hildebrandt, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
Boston
2007
Jing Zhou, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Boston
Vicente Torres, M.D.
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minn.
2005
Greg Germino, M.D.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore
Stefan Somlo, M.D.
Yale University School of Medicine
New Haven, Conn.
2003
Jared J. Grantham, M.D.
University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City, Kan.
Peter Harris, Ph.D.
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minn.
Page last edited January 2023