Senior Research Scholars Ruth Faden and Tom Beauchamp were added to a very short list of recipients of PRIM&R’s (Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research) Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Research Ethics. The award recognizes individuals who have made seminal and extraordinary contributions to the field of research ethics. The presention was made on December 3rd at PRIM&R’s 2011 Advancing Ethical Research Conference (December 2-4, in National Harbor, MD).

Drs. Faden and Beauchamp received their awards before a standing ovation in the Potomac Ballroom of the Gaylord National Hotel. During their acceptance speeches, Drs. Faden and Beauchamp gave special recognition to the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Berman Institute of Bioethics. They also expressed heartfelt gratitude to family and close friends, particularly Dr. Beauchamp’s mother-in-law and Dr. Faden’s mother Anita Rubin. Mrs. Rubin, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, provided, according to Dr. Beauchamp, for them “a reason to aspire to something higher.”

PRIM&R also hosted a private luncheon for family, friends, and colleagues. At the luncheon, Drs. Faden and Beauchamp’s remarks, entitled “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants,” included warmly recounted stories of their personal and professional experiences with the only other past award recipients, Albert Jonsen (2009), Robert Levine (2005), Charles McCarthy (2003), and Jay Katz (2001).

As recognized by PRIM&R with the great distinction of being included among such “giants,” Drs. Faden and Beauchamp indeed have and continue to aspire to something higher through their own work and by their impact on others and the field of research ethics.