Homer W. Smith Award
The Homer Smith Award is presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions which fundamentally affect the science of nephrology, broadly defined, but not limited to, the pathobiology, cellular and molecular mechanisms and genetic influences on the functions and diseases of the kidney. Established in 1964, this award recognizes one of the major intellectual forces in renal physiology.
Dr. Smith spent the majority of his professional career at New York University, moving there in 1928 following a three-year tenure as Chairman of Physiology at the University of Virginia. As director of the Physiology Laboratories at NYU he developed and refined his concepts of glomerular filtration and tubular absorption and secretion of solutes. The clarity of his logic and the skill with which he explained his ideas transformed them into vivid and powerful concepts that are the cornerstones of our present understanding of normal and abnormal renal function. He attracted the best and brightest into the field, not only to NYU, but also to the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory where he spent many summers studying renal physiology in fish.
His use of comparative approaches to explain normal human physiology stands as a model for students of biology and scientists attempting to unravel the mysteries of normal and disordered renal function. This award is in recognition of those who follow in his footsteps and contribute to our understanding of how the kidney functions normally and in disease states.
Award Winners
- 2023 Ali G. Gharavi, MD
- 2022 Jeff M. Sands, MD, FASN
- 2021 Melissa H. Little, PhD
- 2020 Peter J. Ratcliffe, MD, PhD
- 2019 Toshiro Fujita, MD, PhD, FASN
- 2018 M. Amin Arnaout, MD, FASN
- 2017 Martin Pollak, MD
- 2015 Dontscho Kerjaschki, MD
- 2014 Friedhelm Hildebrandt, MD
- 2013 Stefan Somlo, MD
- 2012 Ernest M. Wright, PhD
- 2011 Anita Aperia, MD, PhD
- 2010 Wilhelm Kriz, MD
- 2009 René J. Bindels, PhD
- 2008 Peter C. Harris, PhD
- 2007 Qais Al-Awqati, MBChB
- 2006 Terry B. Strom, MD
- 2005 Walter F. Boron, MD, PhD
- 2004 Thomas J. Jentsch, MD, PhD
- 2003 Billy G. Hudson, PhD
- 2002 Jurgen B. Schnermann, MD
- 2001 Mark A. Knepper, MD, PhD
- 2000 Karl Tryggvason, MD, PhD
- 1999 Peter C. Agre, MD
- 1998 Richard P. Lifton, MD, PhD
- 1997 Steven C. Hebert, MD
- 1996 Bernard C. Rossier, MD
- 1995 Thomas E. Andreoli, MD
- 1994 Peter S. Aronson, MD, FASN
- 1993 James A. Schafer, PhD
- 1992 Jared J. Grantham, MD
- 1991 Heini Murer, PhD
- 1990 Klaus W. Thurau, MD
- 1989 Rolf Kinne, MD
- 1988 Marilyn G. Farquhar, PhD
- 1987 Joseph S. Handler, MD
- 1986 Emile L. Boulpaep, MD
- 1985 Philip R. Steinmetz, MD
- 1984 Barry M. Brenner, MD
- 1983 Eberhard Fromter, MD, PhD
- 1982 Floyd C. Rector, Jr., MD
- 1981 Alexander Leaf, MD
- 1980 Isidore S. Edelman, MD
- 1979 François Morel, MD
- 1978 Erich E. Windhager, MD
- 1977 Maurice B. Burg, MD
- 1976 Frank J. Dixon, MD
- 1975 Karl J. Ullrich, MD
- 1973 Jack Orloff, MD
- 1972 Hugh E. de Wardener, MD
- 1971 Gerhard H. Giebisch, MD
- 1970 Carl W. Gottschalk, MD
- 1969 James A. Shannon, MD, PhD
- 1968 Jean R. Oliver, MD
- 1967 Heinrich Wirz, MD
- 1966 Hans H. Ussing, PhD
- 1965 Robert W. Berliner, MD
- 1964 Robert F. Pitts, MD, PhD