The Inaugural Dr. Melvin H. Amler Prize for Innovation to be Announced
The Award Recognizes A Student Who Has Shown Exceptional Creativity And Ingenuity Of A Research Concept That Merits Further Development
The Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Biomedical Space on September 15 is set to kick off at 2:30 p.m. at 7 Dana Road with the awarding of the inaugural Dr. Melvin H. Amler Prize for Innovation. The award is honor of the late Melvin H. Amler, M.S., D.D.S., an National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded biomedical researcher and practicing dentist whose creativity inspired his students and colleagues for 65 years. Established by the Amler family, the goal of the award competition is to encourage and support a creative sense of inquiry and the joy of discovery in students on the NYMC campus.
The competition was open to students on the Valhalla campus from the School of Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Health Sciences and Practice, Touro College of Dental Medicine and the Touro College School of Health Sciences Nursing Program. The prize reflects Dr. Amler’s distinct talent for finding innovative solutions to almost any situation, whether at the research bench or his clinical practice.
Dr. Amler was born in New York City to Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, City College, and NYU College of Dentistry. He served in combat during World War II and decades later authored Midnight on Mindanao, a wartime remembrance that was well received. After the war, he returned to NYU as a research faculty member in histochemistry and pathobiology and opened a private practice in general dentistry. His clinical colleagues found they could send him complex cases for which he frequently thought of inventive treatments. His research focused on extraction wound healing, bone regeneration, bone marrow transplantation and radiation-induced transformation of stem cells. His work, cited in PubMed, was funded by the NIH and American Cancer Society.
A review committee reviewed the abstract submissions stating the public health, clinical or scientific problem the project aims to solve, its importance, the innovative solution and how to test the solution’s efficacy. The winner will receive an unrestricted cash prize, a plaque, and have the opportunity to seek additional support from the faculty and research laboratories to develop the idea further which may result in publication and even commercialization.