Mary Woodard Lasker Award
for Public Service

The Lasker Foundation sponsors four types of awards: the Basic Medical Research Award, designed to reward those at the frontier, trying to wrest the secrets of disease away from a reluctant Nature; the next is the Clinical Medical Research Award, given to someone who has translated those secrets into a novel clinical advance; third is the Special Achievement Award, a lifetime achievement award for medical scientists.

The Lasker Public Service Award is for individuals who are supporting the infrastructure of science and medicine to make possible the great advances in medical care that we have seen in the last century. Joe Goldstein has just indicated to you the winners in 2003 of the first two types of awards.

It is my pleasure to announce to you that this year's winner of the Public Service Award is Christopher Reeve—actor, activist, great advocate of research in medicine for the betterment of mankind. As you all know, Christopher Reeve was an actor with a promising career ahead of him, when in 1995 he had a horseback accident that paralyzed him from the shoulders down. What many of you don't know—as I didn't before my work on the Lasker Selection Committee—is that before his accident, Christopher Reeve was an activist in various causes such as Amnesty International, the Save the Children Campaign, and the National Resources Defense Council.

In 1977, he demonstrated in Santiago, Chile, on behalf of 77 actors threatened with execution by the Pinochet regime. After his accident—when most people would just be content to be alive—he renewed his activist role, not only to help others who are paralyzed like him, but also those afflicted with the broad spectrum of diseases encountered in the modern world. In this role, he distinguished himself by interviewing scientists in order to be a more effective advocate.

Both Senator Harkin and Congressman Porter, two giants in supporting health research bills in the U.S. Congress, wrote to the Lasker Committee, saying how persuasive Christopher Reeve's testimony had been in the U.S. Congress in passing bills in support of the NIH. He also has formed with his wife, Dana, the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, and has a busy tour schedule to bring his message to many people. He is unafraid of taking unpopular positions, as evidenced by his recent advocacy of stem cell research.

For his intelligent and persuasive advocacy of research on medical issues, his great championing of the causes of the ill and disabled in addition to his great personal courage, the Lasker Foundation is honored to present Christopher Reeve with its 2003 Public Service Award.