ECTS Steven Boonen Award
Nominations period: nominations are now open till 15 December 2024
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
2025 nominations will be open till 15 December 2024.
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 2024 Steven Boonen Award
Congratulations to Mattias Lorentzon, Professor and Senior Consultant in Geriatric Medicine, recipient of the 2024 Steven Boonen Award. The award was presented during ECTS 2024 Congress in Marseille.
For a full list of previous recipients of the Steven Boonen Award, please visit the Previous Grants section.
I am really pleased that the Grants and Awards Committee have chosen Professor Mattias Lorentzon from Gothenburg as the 2024 Steven Boonen Award recipient. He is a friendly, competent and dynamic champion of young researchers and devoted to the health of the oldest old among our patients. His work very much falls within the area that Steven Boonen would have wanted to see continue so the award could really not go to a better person. I know that his students and colleagues will agree that he is a hugely inspirational leader. Professor Lorentzon, still a relatively young senior research leader at Sahlgrenska, successfully implemented fracture prevention in the oldest old in Sweden, an area with a high incidence of osteoporotic fractures and historically a very low uptake of osteoporosis interventions. While also pioneering work on the microbiome in clinical osteoporosis research, Professor Lorentzon has mentored a long list of young women and men who have completed their PhD degrees with particular distinction. He has been an active supporter of the ECTS for his entire clinical and research career and won the Golden Femur debate for the ECTS in 2016.
