The Awards Committee's efforts focus on reviewing applications for six awards:

1) APS Postdoctoral Fellowship in Physiological Genomics; 2) Research Career Enhancement Award; 3) Teaching Career Enhancement Award; 4) Arthur C. Guyton Award for Excellence in Integrative Physiology; 5) Shih-Chun Wang Young Investigator Award; and 6) Lazaro J. Mandel Young Investigator Award.

Although the numbers of applications for the Postdoctoral Fellowship in Physiological Genomics increased by 19 percent to 25 in 2005 from 21 in 2004, there seems to be a trend toward receiving fewer applications for this award. This seems paradoxical with the greater application of physiological genomics techniques. Other awards are attracting reasonably consistent, but low, numbers of applicants, but, clearly, there is no growth. Given the limited availability and stringency of funding for trainees, we should be receiving more applications. The Committee is investigating ways to achieve greater dissemination of information about these awards.

The Committee tracks the gender distribution of applicants and recipients. For the first time, female applicants for the Physiological Genomics Award outnumbered male applicants by 30 percent. Female recipients still lag behind based on the ratio of female to male applicants for all awards. However, there is a clear trend toward equal distribution of recipients.

Review Criteria. Standardized review and scoring criteria have been implemented for all awards. Such standardization, initiated by the previous Committee chair, Patricia Preisig, has helped the Committee to identify outstanding applicants based on objective and weighted factors. Briefly, grant applications are initially reviewed either by the whole committee or by three assigned reviewers. After applications are reviewed, the scores are submitted to the APS office where they were tabulated and distributed to the Committee. The Committee then has a conference call to discuss the applications. After the discussion, all participating Committee members score or re-score the applications and submit their scores to the APS office, where they were are tabulated. APS Executive Director Martin Frank and I review the final scoring and identify the recommended award recipients.

2004-2005 Award Recipients

Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in Physiological Genomics

The committee received 25 applications and awarded two Postdoctoral Fellowships. The Fellowships were awarded to Julia Halperin, University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Chicago, IL, and Rasnapreet Sabharwal, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. The fellows received a $32,000 stipend plus a $3,500 trainee allowance for the first year, and a $34,000 stipend and a $3,500 trainee allowance for the second year.

The Research Career Enhancement (RCEA) and Teaching Career Enhancement (TCEA) Awards

For the October 2004 deadline, the Committee received one application for the RCEA and five applications for the TCEA. No RCEA award was made. Two awardees for the TCEA were selected: Janis Beaird, Associate Professor, The University of West Alabama, Dept. of Biological & Environmental Sciences, Livingston, AL; and Laurie Kelly McCorry, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Boston, MA.

Young Investigator Awards

The APS has three Young Investigator Awards: the Arthur C. Guyton Award for Excellence in Integrative Physiology, the Shih-Chun Wang Young Investigator Award, and the Lazaro J. Mandel Young Investigator Award. Two applications were received for the Lazaro J. Mandel Award. The award was presented to Rong Ma, University of North Texas Health Sciences Center. Three applications were received for the Shih-Chun Wang Award. The award was presented to David L. Allen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. The Arthur C. Guyton Award for Excellence in Integrative Physiology was not awarded this year.

Peter A. Friedman, Chair

Council Actions

• Council accepted the report of the Awards Committee.

• Council approved an increase in the Postdoctoral Fellowship (Physiological Genomics) award. The funding will be indexed to the NIH postdoctoral stipend level.

• Council approved changing the deadlines for the Research Career and Teaching Career Enhancement Awards to April 15 and September 15.