The American Society of Human Genetics honors Dr. Huntington Willard as 2009 Allan Award recipient

21-Sep-2009 - USA

The American Society of Human Genetics will present the 2009 William Allan Award to Huntington F. Willard, PhD, Director of the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) at Duke University, in a formal ceremony at the Society's 59th Annual Meeting on October 23, 2009, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Allan Award recognizes substantial and far-reaching scientific contributions to human genetics, carried out over a lifetime of scientific inquiry and productivity. One of ASHG's longest-standing and most distinguished awards, the Allan Award was established in 1961 in memory of William Allan, who was one of the first American physicians to conduct extensive research in human genetics.

"I feel incredibly grateful and proud to be named as the recipient of this year's Allan Award," Willard said. "Receiving this prestigious acknowledgement from my colleagues in the human genetics field is a tremendous honor, and I look forward to accepting the 2009 Allan Award at the Society's Annual Meeting in October."

Huntington Willard is well known in the ASHG community, having been a faculty member at University of Toronto, Stanford University, and then professor and chair at Case Western Reserve University. He was president of ASHG in 2001, and has held leadership positions in many other genetics organizations, as well as being the co-founder and executive editor of Human Molecular Genetics.

Throughout his career, Dr. Willard's work has been instrumental in the understanding of human chromosome behavior. He has completed pioneering research into the behavior of human chromosome centromeres and performed insightful and essential studies into the mechanisms of X chromosome inactivation. His continued basic research endeavors have only been enhanced by his foresight and more expansive vision for human genetics and the role our research community has in biomedical sciences and policy.

The Society recognizes the significant achievements of the Allan Award winner by honoring the recipient with a $10,000 prize and an engraved medal. The 2009 Allan Award will be presented to Dr. Willard in a formal ceremony at the ASHG 59th Annual Meeting that will take place on Friday, October 23, 2009, at 4:00 p.m. in the Mid Pacific Conference Center at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel in Honolulu. Dr. Willard will deliver the Allan Award Address immediately following the award presentation ceremony.

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