AIMM / ASBMR John Haddad Young 
Investigator Awards

AIMM and ASBMR are proud to continue their joint sponsorship of the John Haddad, Jr., Young Investigator Awards. The awards provide financial support to attend the Advances in Mineral Metabolism (AIMM) Meeting in Snowmass, Colorado, USA, April 6-10, 2010.

Perspective

It is important to acknowledge the importance and successes of the awardees named here, yet some historical perspective to explain the title of these awards is required.

Advances in Mineral Metabolism (AIMM) was conceived by Drs. Hunter Heath and Steve Hodgson in 1985 and established as a meeting to combine basic and clinical bone biology with outstanding spring skiing at Snowmass, CO in the Spring of 1986. Under their direction the meeting was embraced by a broad spectrum of bone biologists and clinicians who gathered religiously to participate in relaxed but high quality discussions of bone biology and medicine. 

Dr. John G. Haddad, a charter member of AIMM, was an internationally renowned endocrinologist, Professor of Medicine and Associate chair for Research at the University of Pennsylvania when he died in May 1997, at the age of 59. These are the formalities that identify Dr. Haddad professionally, but they do not highlight the personality and vitality of John that we at AIMM and ASBMR honor with these prestigious awards.

John was a funny man with serious gifts. He was a past-president of ASBMR, board member of the Paget’s Foundation and the National Osteoporosis Foundation, as well as a past-board member and a constant attendee of the annual Snowmass meeting. His influence on the evolution of both AIMM and ASBMR was to support and continually strive to develop the young investigators in our field.

To honor John, then-presidents of AIMM (Bob Gagel followed by Harald Jüppner) and ASBMR (Michael Rosenblatt) joined in an effort to continue John’s legacy. Together they chose to support AIMM’s tradition of investment in the development of young investigators, by providing additional incentives for success. The awards were established and presented for the first time at the AIMM meeting in 1999. Since then they have become the major Young Investigator awards of the ASBMR. AIMM is the perfect venue for the presentation of these prestigious awards, as AIMM continues to offer the intimate, interactive venue for creative scientific exchange that was envisioned by Hunter and Steve and that John enjoyed so much.

AIMM is honored to share these awards with ASBMR and to be able to highlight the abilities and future of our brightest young investigators. We are sure John would be proud!

Congratulations to all the award winners!!