Australian first win: Prof Ben Hogan awarded prestigious US prize

Prof Ben Hogan (DAP) has become the first Australian to win the North American Vascular Biology Organisation (NAVBO) Judah Folkman Award.

Regarded as the most prestigious international award for mid-career vascular biologists, it recognises Ben’s substantial contributions to vascular biology that include the discovery of numerous new molecular regulators and mechanisms of lymphangiogenesis in development and lymphatic disease.

Prof Ben Hogan, who leads the Vascular Cell and Developmental Biology Lab across the Department of Anatomy & Physiology and Peter Mac, said he is proud to win this significant award in his field.

“The award really recognises the combined efforts of my entire team over the last 14 years to try to understand how lymphatic vessels form and to discover new ways that they may be manipulated in disease,” he said.

To receive an award named after the great Judah Folkman, who founded the tumour angiogenesis field, is an enormous honour and a very humbling experience.

It is the first time NAVBO have recognised an Australian vascular biologist with this award.

“The Australian vascular biology community is growing in the much-needed area of discovery science and has much to offer on the international stage," Ben said.

Since 2009, the Folkman Award has recognised an individual mid-career scientist who has made a significant impact on the field through their original research accomplishments.

Prof Hogan will formally receive the award and present his research at NAVBO’s annual vascular biology meeting in October this year in California.