Blake S. Wilson, a pioneer in the development of cochlear implants who serves as a co-director of the Duke Hearing Center, will receive the 2013 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award.
The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced Monday that Wilson will share the award with Graeme M. Clark of Australia and Ingeborg J. Hochmair of Austria, who also played critical roles in developing the device that restores hearing to individuals with profound deafness. With continuous improvements in both hardware and software, cochlear implants have become widely used and have proven to be especially beneficial to children in recent years.
The Lasker Awards are among the most respected science prizes in the world. Eighty-three Lasker laureates have received the Nobel Prize, including 31 in the past two decades. In its announcement, The Lasker Foundation provided details about all of this year's laureates, who will be honored at a gala ceremony Sept. 20 in New York.