AAI Career Awards

AAI Career Awards honor individuals for outstanding research and career achievements.


Awards Subject to Nomination by the AAI Council*

* Member nominations will not be accepted for these awards.

AAI Lifetime Achievement Award

The AAI Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor bestowed by the AAI Council upon an AAI member. This award recognizes a deserving member for a career of scientific achievement and for contributions to AAI and fellow immunologists.

AAI Distinguished Service Award

This award recognizes an individual for outstanding service to AAI and the immunology community.

Distinguished Fellows of AAI

This program annually recognizes members for distinguished careers and outstanding scientific contributions as well as their service to AAI and the immunology community.

AAI Public Service Award (PSA)

Since 1994, the annual AAI Public Service Award (PSA) has been bestowed on individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advocacy and support of basic biomedical and immunologic research and who have distinguished themselves in such diverse fields as public affairs and policymaking, journalism and scientific writing, scientific research, research administration, minority recruitment and education in the sciences, and disease research advocacy.


Awards Subject to Nomination by AAI Committees

† Member nominations will not be accepted for these awards.

AAI Vanguard Award and Lecture

Since 2003, the AAI Annual Meeting has featured a scientific lecture sponsored by the AAI Minority Affairs Committee. Selection for this award and lecture recognizes AAI member investigators who are underrepresented scientists noted for research achievement and exemplary career success.

Scientists from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis.


Awards Subject to Nomination by AAI Members

  2025 Nominations Are Open August 6—September 18, 2024

AAI Excellence in Mentoring Award

A dedicated mentor significantly influences a trainee's professional development and career. This award recognizes the importance of this mentor-trainee relationship.

AAI-Steinman Award for Human Immunology Research and Lecture

This award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to the understanding of immune processes underlying human disease pathogenesis, prevention, or therapy.

AAI-BioLegend Herzenberg Award and Lecture

Established to honor the memory of AAI member Leonard A. Herzenberg, Ph.D., this award recognizes an individual who has made exemplary research contributions to the field of B cell biology. This award is generously supported by BioLegend.

AAI-Thermo Fisher Meritorious Career Award and Lecture

This award recognizes a mid-career scientist for outstanding research contributions to the field of immunology. This award is generously supported by Thermo Fisher Scientific.

AAI-BD Biosciences Investigator Award and Lecture

This award recognizes an early-career investigator who has made outstanding contributions to the field of immunology. This award is generously supported by BD Biosciences.

NEW! AAI Lancefield Mid-Career Achievement Award and Lecture

The Lancefield Award, sponsored by the AAI Committee on the Status of Women, annually honors one outstanding mid-career woman investigator for research and leadership within the field.


Awards by Application by AAI Members

AAI ASPIRE Award for Early Career Investigators

This award recognizes up to six outstanding early career investigators for research accomplishments and professional promise in the field of immunology.

Questions about the nomination process? Please contact the AAI offices at awards@aai.org, or (301) 634-7178.


The AAI Awards, Grants, and Fellowships brochure summarizes all of our program offerings in one easy-to-read document. Download it now!

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