Steven C. Beering Award

The Steven C. Beering Award honors an internationally recognized individual for outstanding research contributions to advancing biomedical or clinical science. The award is presented annually and consists of a memento and a prize of $25,000. Eight of the past Beering Award recipients have become Nobel laureates, either before or after receipt of this award.

Nomination Process

Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year. Nominations submitted by Nov. 18 will be considered for the next available prize.

Nominations should be accompanied by a summary statement emphasizing the most important academic accomplishment(s) of the nominee, importance to biomedical or clinical science and why you believe they are deserving of this honor.

Please include the following in the nomination packet:

Support letter that includes summary statement
Curriculum vitae
List of key publications

Nominate a candidate

Nominations for the next round of consideration are due Nov. 18. Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.

Submit a nomination

Current Winner

Douglas C. Wallace, PhD

Professor of Pediatrics
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Director of the Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute
Founder of the field of Mitochondrial Molecular Medicine

Faculty News

Founder of mitochondrial genetics field to speak at IU

Douglas Wallace, widely recognized for founding the field of human mitochondrial genetics more than 35 years ago, will share his work with the IU School of Medicine community.

July 14, 2025

Past Winners

2024	Robert C. Malenka, MD, PhD Founder, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Director, Nancy Pritzker Laboratory, Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford Medicine
2023	Stanley Crooke, MD, PhD Founder, Chairman and CEO of n-Lorem
2019	George R. Stark, PhD Cleveland Clinic
2018	George Church, PhD Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, a founding member of the Wyss Institute and director of personalgenormes.org
2017	Michael J. Welsh, MD Director for the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute at the University of Iowa
2016	Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor and Director for the Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology at Washing University in St. Louis
2015	Laurie H. Glimcher, MD Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and Provost for Medical Affairs of Cornell. “Stressed Out: A Novel Approach to Cancer Immunotherapy”
2014	William G Kaelin, Jr., MD Professor of Medicine at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center Harvard Medical School. “The Von Hippel-Lindau Tumor Suppressor: Insights into Oxygen Sensing and Cancer”
2013	Roger J. Davis, PhD Professor of Molecular Medicine and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at University of Massachusetts Medical School. “Metabolic Stress Responses”

Steven Beering on top of a building at the IU School of Medicine Indianapolis campus in the 1970s

About the Award's Namesake

Established in 1983, the Steven C. Beering Award honors its namesake's important contributions to the IU School of Medicine. Beering, MD, joined the IU School of Medicine faculty in 1969 as professor of medicine and assistant dean. He was named dean of the School of Medicine in 1974 — becoming the youngest person to serve in that post — and served as dean until 1983. While serving as dean, he also served as director of the IU Medical Center.

During his time at IU School of Medicine, he led efforts to establish the Indiana Statewide Medical Education System, creating community-based regional centers for medical education in Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Lafayette, Muncie, South Bend and Terre Haute. During his tenure, the number of endowed chairs at IU School of Medicine grew from three to 34.

Prior to joining IU School of Medicine, he served 12 years in the United States Air Force, where he was an adviser to the U.S. surgeon general in internal medicine and a medical consultant to NASA. He was a physician to the nation's earliest astronauts as well as to U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.

After serving at IU School of Medicine, Beering became president of Purdue University, where he served from 1983 until his retirement in August 2000. After leaving Purdue, he served on and chaired the National Science Board, an organization that advised the president and U.S. Congress on national policy issues related to science, engineering research and engineering education. Beering was a four-time recipient of Indiana's Sagamore of the Wabash Award and was named a Living Legend by the Indiana Historical Society in 2013.

Blog: "Steven C. Beering: A guiding force in Indiana academia"