Eligibility

Eligibility for the Merkin Prize extends to important, novel technologies that have had demonstrable clinical & real world impact on human health, such as prevention, diagnosis, or treatment, and the individuals and/or teams who were key contributors to its development. Technologies may have been created through work in academia, the commercial sector, or government. Submissions from nominators in any discipline will be considered. 

For the purposes of this prize, a technology is defined as an innovation or invention of a method or device, such as a lab technique, a computational method, a medical device, or a diagnostic test. Nominations for basic discoveries, such as biological pathways, or new uses of already invented technology, will not be considered. 

Each nomination must specify and demonstrate the technology’s clinical impact — past, present, and projected future. Technologies that are in either pre-clinical or clinical-trial phases of development are not eligible for the prize. 

Although no formal limit has been placed on the number of individual nominees, more than four is discouraged except under exceptional conditions. If nominating a team, no more than 50 members of the team may be nominated.

In some cases, it may be desirable to use one or more of the nomination slots to propose a team of investigators whose collaborative work was key in the development of a technology. Teams in any industry are eligible to receive the Merkin Prize, and the team will allocate its cash award equally among its members if selected for a prize. 

To qualify for a team nomination, the nominated technology could not have been created without the specific contributions of each team member. Eligible team members include all of those who have directly contributed to the development of the nominated technology. Those in primarily administrative roles are not eligible for the prize.

Diverse perspectives and experiences help drive transformational biomedical research. To that end, we particularly encourage nominations from historically underrepresented communities.

Current Broad Institute employees and Institute Members are ineligible to receive the Prize. Technology developed at, or in collaboration with, the Broad Institute is ineligible. 

Consortia, Institutions, and/or Organizations are not eligible to receive the prize.

Self-nominations are not permitted. Nominators may submit no more than two nominations per cycle. Nominators must be an individual, not an institution or an organization. 

Nominations determined not to include all living key contributors may be asked to resubmit an amended nomination for consideration in future cycles.