Etcetera

Paul Kenny Selected for Jacob P. Waletzky Award
Paul Kenny, an associate professor on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute, has been selected as the 2010 winner of the Jacob P. Waletzky Memorial Award for Innovative Research in Drug Addiction and Alcoholism.

The award, which includes an honorarium of $25,000, was presented November 14, 2010, at Neuroscience 2010, the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting held this year in San Diego, CA.

The award is given each year to a scientist who has conducted research in the area of substance abuse and the brain and nervous system. The award is intended to encourage innovative research into the neurobiology of drug addiction. The Waletzky family established the award in 2003 in memory of Jacob P. Waletzky, who died at the age of 29 from cocaine-induced cardiac arrhythmia.

"I am deeply honored and very grateful to the society for this award," Kenny said. "Recognizing and supporting addiction research is critical if we want other young scientists to pursue it as their chosen field of study. Addiction is such a terrible burden on both individuals and society that we need more supporters like the society and the Waletzky family if we are ever to come to grips with it."

Claes Wahlestedt Receives Leadership Award at 2010 BioFlorida
Claes R. Wahlestedt, professor at Scripps Florida, was awarded the Senator Jim King Leadership Award from FLCURED, Florida's Center for Universal Research to Eradicate Disease, at the BioFlorida conference in Fort Lauderdale, October 26, 2010. The award is named after Senator King, who introduced Senate Bill 2558 that led to the creation of the Florida Biomedical Research Program. The program was later renamed in honor of his parents as the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program. The award is presented to an individual who has made outstanding efforts to expand and enhance Florida's Biomedical Research Enterprise and expedite cures.

"Dr. Wahlestedt is an exemplary person to receive this award," said Mike Devine, executive director of FL CURED. "Not only is he a top researcher, but through numerous activities outside the lab he has dedicated himself to helping Florida advance as a major center for biomedical research."

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu