Michael Brown, Director of the Jonsson Center for Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, delivered the 2016 Lasker APSA Lecture at the annual meeting of the American Physician Scientists Association on April 15. Brown discussed the importance of science prizes, and posited that while prizes should not be the goal of scientific research, they nevertheless can be beneficial in showing the world that society values scientific discovery. Brown is a recipient of the 1985 Lasker Basic Medical Research Award and the 1985 Nobel Prize for studies regarding receptor-mediated regulation of blood cholesterol.