F. Clarke Fraser New Investigator Award

Description: This award honors F. Clarke Fraser, one of the founding members of the Teratology Society, for his many contributions to the field of developmental toxicology.  The award is presented during the annual meeting of the Teratology Society.  The awardee will give a presentation related to his/her research.  It is intended that the presentation will serve as a demonstration to pre- and postdoctoral students of the development of an independent career in birth defects research.

Eligibility requirements: Criteria for the award include being active in the Teratology Society and evidence of a successful independent research career, as demonstrated, for example, by high quality publications in peer-reviewed journals, obtaining funding for research endeavors, an established teaching program, an active graduate student program, or being generally recognized as an expert in the field. Individuals working in academia, government, and industry will be equally eligible to compete for this award. Candidates must be within ten years of the date their last formal training in a field directly related to the disciplines of Birth Defects, Developmental Biology, Epidemiology or Teratology (e.g., degree conferral, postdoctoral fellowship, residency program, etc.) and must be nominated by a member of the Teratology Society. Letters of nomination should be sent to the chair of the Awards Committee and should include past accomplishments of the candidate, current research interests and projects, and information on how the nominator believes the candidate's career will advance discovery in birth defects research.

The proposal package should consist of the following items:

1. A letter of nomination from a member of the Teratology Society.
2. A second letter of reference must be provided from another individual who is familiar with the candidate's research career.
3. Five copies of the candidate's curriculum vitae.
4. Five copies of three representative publications of the candidate. The candidate need not be the first author on all publications, but it should be clear that the candidate has played a major role in the design and implementation of a research idea that has led or is likely to lead to an advance in birth defects research.
5. The candidate may supply a summary of his/her research career with a description of future research directions (optional).

Judging process: The award winner, if any, will be chosen by a the Fraser Award Committee, using the criteria listed above under "Eligibility."

Past recipients

2007
Sonja A. Rasmussen, Centers for Disease Control

2006
Christina D. Chambers, Ph.D., California Teratogen Information Service (CTIS) and Clinical Research Program

2005
Suzan L. Carmichael, California Birth Defects Monitoring Program

2004
Karen Augustine, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Presentation: html / ppt)

2003
Ida W. Smoak, North Carolina State University

2002
Jeffrey M. Peters, Pfizer PGRD Amboise

2001
Michael L. Cunningham, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

2000
Martha Werler, Slone Epidemiology Unit, Boston University

1999
E. Sidney Hunter, III, Ph.D., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1998
Edward Lammer, Oakland Children's Hospital