Two Women Neuroscientists Honored With the Kavli Prize

The Kavli Prize in Neuroscience has been awarded to three American scholars. The Kavli Prize is administered by a partnership between the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Kavli Foundation, which is based in the United States. The prize, which can be awarded to scientists from any nation, is named after Fred Kavli, a Norwegian-born U.S. philanthropist and founder of The Kavli Foundation. Two other Kavli Prizes are awarded in nanoscience and astrophysics. The Kavli Prizes are considered among the world’s most prestigious awards honoring scientific research.

Two of the three scholars sharing the prestigious neuroscience prize are women: Eve Marder of Brandeis University and Carla Shatz of Stanford University.

Eve Marder is the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She has conducted extensive research on the neural circuits controlling the movement of food through the digestive tracts of lobsters and crabs. Professor Marder is a graduate of Brandeis University and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.

Carla Shatz is the Sapp Family Provostal Professor and a professor of biology and professor of neurobiology at Stanford University. Her laboratory studies the vision system of mammals. She is a past president of the Society for Neuroscience. Professor Shatz is a graduate of Radcliffe College at Harvard University. She holds a master’s degree in physiology from University College London and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University.

These two women will share the Kavli Prize for Neuroscience with Michael Merzenich, professor emeritus of neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. The winners will share a $1 million prize. They will be presented gold medals by the Crown Prince of Norway at ceremonies in Oslo on September 6.