Pain research pioneer and PRF science advisor Marshall Devor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, has been awarded the 2012 EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture, an annual honor given to Israeli citizens for “academic and professional achievements that have far-reaching influence and make a significant contribution to society.” The annual award is sponsored by the A.M.N. Foundation for the Advancement of Science, Art and Culture in Israel, in cooperation with the Prime Minister of Israel.
According to information on the EMET website, the intention of the A.M.N. Foundation, through the award of the EMET Prizes, is “to acknowledge those who view excellence as a way of life and the fulfillment of human potential as essential to creating a better world for future generations."
Devor will split the $1 million prize with seven other 2012 EMET laureates, drawn from fields ranging from chemistry and physiology to linguistics, economics, and drama.
In response to the announcement, fellow PRF science advisor Anne Louise Oaklander, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, US, sent this message:
“I was delighted to hear of the Israeli government's recognition of Professor Marshall Devor's outstanding career accomplishments in pain research. He has contributed an outstanding body of research, authoring several hundred papers over more than 40 years. After emigrating to Israel from Canada, he rose to become the Chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. There, he fathered and then grandfathered the Israeli pain research community, training several generations of researchers who have themselves gone on to distinguished research careers in pain science.
“Professor Devor was born in Toronto and completed university studies at Princeton and Massachusetts Institute of Technology before undertaking postdoctoral training with Dr. Pat Wall. Originally trained in electrophysiology, he broadened his research interests and skills into neuroanatomy, animal behavior, the genetics of pain, and the mechanisms by which general anesthesia suppresses pain and consciousness. His publications span the gamut from molecular and animal-model research to studies of living patients, and even to neuropathology investigation using tissues from neuropathic pain patients. His diverse approaches had the common goal of proving that chronic neuropathic pain, at one time attributed to psychopathology, in fact had neurobiological origins. His outgoing personality and unflagging enthusiasm for the scientific method are unforgettable. Dr. Devor has also been an international leader, for instance, as the long-time Neurobiology Section Editor for the journal PAIN and to the IASP where he helped organize numerous conferences and lectures.” (See PRF related news.)
The PRF joins Oaklander in congratulating Devor on this well-deserved recognition.
