ECTS Steven Boonen Award
Nominations period: nominations are open till 15 December 2025
In memory of Professor Steven Boonen, who sadly passed away during the ECTS 50th Anniversary Congress in Lisbon on 20 May 2013. ECTS would like to remember and honour Steven during its annual congress by introducing an annual Steven Boonen Clinical Research Award.
The recipient of this award will give a lecture at the annual meeting and receive a grant to be paid into the recipient’s institution or university account to contribute to specific research expenses.
Steven was an internationally recognised expert in the field of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease, who was actively involved in bone disease research, education and patient care. His translational and clinical research activities focused on determinants of age-related skeletal fragility and on strategies to reduce fracture risk. Specific areas of expertise included musculoskeletal frailty, osteoporosis in old age and innovative trial design. He was an active and regular contributor to the ECTS congress for many years, and was also a member of the ECTS Board of Directors.
Eligibility
This award is open to medical doctors who have made significant progress and contribution to the field of clinical bone disease research, including epidemiological and pathophysiological aspects.
ECTS Board members are not eligible to this award during term of office in the ECTS Board.
Nomination Procedure
Nominations are open till 15 December 2025
Nominees must be nominated and seconded by ECTS members, using the online form.
Review Procedure
All nominations are reviewed by an independent panel of reviewers. The final decision is based on the marks and comments from the reviewers and any conflicts of interest are identified and dealt with appropriately. The ECTS Grants and Awards Committee and ECTS Board will make the final decision based on scores and comments by the reviewers.
Winner of the 2025 Steven Boonen Award
Congratulations to Gustavo Duque, Dr. Joseph Kaufmann Chair in Geriatric Medicine – Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University
Principal Investigator – Bone, Muscle, and Geroscience Group – Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
Director – The Simone & Edouard Schouela RUISSS McGill Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health of Seniors
Editor-in-Chief Journal of Gerontology Biological Sciences
Chair – Canadian Translational Geroscience Network, recipient of the 2025 Steven Boonen Award. The award was presented during ECTS 2025 Congress in Innsbruck.
For a full list of previous recipients of the Steven Boonen Award, please visit the Previous Grants section.
Gustavo Duque is:
-Full Professor with Tenure, Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
-Dr. Joseph Kaufmann Chair in Geriatric Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
-Director – RUISSS McGill Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health of Seniors/ Simone & Edouard Shouela, McGillUniversity, Montreal,
Canada (Schouela CEDurable)
-Senior Researcher, Metabolic Disorders and Complications (MeDiC) Program, Research Institute of the McGill UniversityHealth Centre
(MUHC), Montreal, Canada
He is also Editor in Chief – Journal of Gerontology – Biological Sciences Section (official journal of the Gerontological Societyof America).
He has been involved in the “osteosarcopenia” field for many years and has already given an impressive number ofpresentation as an invited speaker on this topic.
Regarding his involvement with ECTS, he has served as a member of the Organizing Committee of the annual meeting 2024, member of the research committee, abstract reviewer, and presenter at several of ECTS events.
