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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

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 the 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
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2017
2015
2013
2011
2009
2007
2005
2003
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.