Medical Discovery News
Science permeates everyday life. Yet the understanding of advances in biomedical science is limited at best. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today for the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly five-hundred-word newspaper column (http://www.illuminascicom.com/) and two-minute radio show provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics. Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine. Each release is designed to stimulate listeners to think, question and appreciate how science affects their health as well as that of the rest of the world. We also delve into significant biomedical discoveries and portray how science (or the lack of it) has impacted health throughout history.
Medical Discovery News
How Nobel Prize Winners are Selected
942 How Nobel Prize Winners are Selected
Welcome to Medical Discovery News. I’m Dr Norbert Herzog.
And I’m Dr. David Niesel
When the Nobel winners are announced each October, a year’s work is behind their selection.
Selfishly, Norbert and I are partial to the Medicine and Physiology Prize and Chemistry Prize.
The winners are usually chosen based on paradigm changing work and work that advances humankind.
Every September, before even the current winners are announced, nominations for the next year begin. For example, previous winners, professors, members of certain Nobel committees are allowed to nominate.
You can’t name yourself or someone dead and by the end of January, the forms are due. Then experts in each field take eight months to review the nominations and produce a report.
For the Chemistry prize, the reports are sent to the Royal Swedish Academy of Science and Nobel Committee that September. The Committee then tries to reach consensus on the finalists.
For the Medicine or Physiology Prize, the laureates are selected by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute. No one is allowed to challenge these final decisions.
US Nobel honorees get a personal call in the middle of the night since the news is announced in the afternoon in Sweden. In December, a ceremony is held at the Stockholm Concert Hall where the Swedish King hands out the Nobel Medal.
Afterwards, a banquet is thrown in Stockholm City Hall where gold mosaic tiles adorn the room. There in the Gold Room the winners can contemplate their remarkable achievements backed by a million-dollar prize.
We are Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, at UTMB and Quinnipiac University, where biomedical discoveries shape the future of medicine. For much more and our disclaimer go to medicaldiscoverynews.com or subscribe to our podcast. Sign up for expanded print episodes at www.illuminascicom.com
