Durham, NC
July 25, 2022 – Established in 2017, the Visionary Leadership Award honors an individual that has made a unique and distinctive contribution to the field of MPS. The award is given to a forward-thinker who changed the lives of thousands through their research or philanthropic efforts.
Congratulations to this year’s recipient, Elizabeth F. Neufeld, PhD. A pioneer and legend in the field of MPS research, Dr. Neufeld is a recognized global authority on hereditary lysosomal storage disorders. Her lifelong passion for exploring MPS disorders—which would lead to the discovery of the genetic mutation that causes MPS I—began with her groundbreaking work at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where her research paved the way for the successful prenatal diagnosis of MPS and related disorders.
Born in France, Dr. Neufeld immigrated to the United States in 1940. She obtained a BS from Queens College, NY, and a PhD from the University of California Berkeley. After her postdoctoral training at the University of California Berkeley, Dr. Neufeld moved to the NIH in Bethesda, MD, where she began her studies of a rare group of genetic diseases. She moved back to California in 1984 as chair of the Department of Biological Chemistry, a position she occupied until 2004.
Dr. Neufeld was a member of the National MPS Society Scientific Advisory Board from 1988 – 2020 and was president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1992. She was elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977 and named a fellow of the American Association for Advancement in Science in 1988. In recognition of her scientific achievements, she was awarded the Gaidner Foundation Institute Award in 1981, the Lasker Award in 1982, the Wolf Prize in Medicine in 1988, the National Medal of Science in 1994, and was named California Scientist of the Year in
1990. She is an emeritus member of the Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, and professor emerita, Biological Chemistry, University of California Los Angeles.
Dr. Neufeld will join us in-person at the 36th Annual Family and Science Conference in Nashville, Tennessee to receive her honor on Friday, August 5, 2022. Join us to recognize the decades of work she pioneered for MPS and related disorders.
