Dennis Selkoe, MD, Vincent and Stella Coates Professor of Neurologic Diseases at HMS and cofounder and codirector of the Center for Neurologic Diseases at BWH, has been selected as the recipient of the prestigious Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Medicine, awarded by the Royal Netherlands Academy of the Arts and Sciences (RNAAS). The award honors Selkoe’s outstanding contributions to the development of the molecular study of diseases of the brain and in particular, Alzheimer’s disease.
While a specialized committee from the RNAAS is responsible for the selection of awardees, the Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize is funded by the Alfred Heineken Fondsen Foundation. The Foundation, which has awarded Selkoe a prize of $150,000, is named in honor of Alfred Heineken, son of Dr. Henry Pierre Heineken. Like his father, who earned his doctorate in chemistry and served as director of Heineken’s Brewery, Alfred Heineken was a devoted advocate of scientific and artistic discovery.
The Heineken Prizes are awarded in several categories in science, medicine and art. Selkoe is among a renowned group of prestigious innovators and thinkers who have been selected for this elite award. Of the fourteen scientists who previously received the Prize, four of them, Christian de Duve, Aaron Clug, Thomas Cech and Eric Kandel, went on to win the Nobel Prize.
Selkoe will be formally presented with his award by His Royal Highness Price Claus in Amsterdam this September and will give a lecture on his work.