The 47th Annual James L. O’Leary Prize Competition is held each year in conjunction with the O’Leary Lecture. 

Designed to acknowledge the most original and important accomplishments in Neuroscience research at WashU by a predoctoral student or postdoctoral fellow

Each Finalist will deliver a 10-minute presentation, and our judging panel will choose 2 winners to each receive a $1000 prize. Please join us for an afternoon of exciting science and competition, and to support Neuroscience at WashU!

Congratulations to the 2024 Finalists!

• Michael Fitzpatrick, Daniel Kerschensteiner lab (WashU Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences)
• Yun Chen, David Holtzman lab (WashU Neurology)
• Charles Pfeifer, PhD, Raj Apte lab (WashU Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences)
• Leon Smyth, PhD, Jonathan Kipnis lab (WashU Pathology & Immunology)
• Kia Barclay, Tristan Li lab (WashU Neuroscience)
• “Liza” Yelyzaveta Bessonova, Barani Raman lab (WashU Biomedical Engineering)
• Caitlin Dingwall, PhD, Jeffrey Milbrandt lab (WashU Genetics)
• Saul Bello Rojas, Martha Bagnall lab (WashU Neuroscience)
• Maria Gonzalez-Aponte, Erik Herzog lab (WashU Biology)
• Aidan Schneider, Keith Hengen lab (WashU Biology)
• Runnan Cao, PhD, Shuo Wang lab (WashU Radiology)

Note that each year, a past O’Leary Prize recipient is invited to be a guest judge and present the O’Leary Lecture.  This year’s guest judge, Joseph Castellano (Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai), will deliver the O’Leary Lecture on Wednesday March 13.

Learn more about the competition and see the list of past winners.

For inquiries contact the ONR.