G-CAN Awards

2026 Award Winners

• G-CAN Gold Medal Award: Lisa Stamp, MBChB, FRACP, PhD
• H. Ralph Schumacher Memorial Early Career Investigator Research Award (top-ranked abstract): Iris Rose Peeters, MD
• G-CAN Junior Faculty Investigator Prize: Edoardo Cipolletta, MD, PhD
• Presidential Emerging Career Investigator Awards: Jie Lu, MD; Haibing Chen, MD, PhD; Jie Wei, PhD; Yinghui Hua, MD, PhD

Read the 2026 award winners’ bios (PDF)

G-CAN Gold Medal Award

The G-CAN Gold Medal is the highest award the society bestows. The award is given to selected investigators who have driven and published landmark research in the field, have a substantial mentoring record, and have been involved in G-CAN, both as a regular meeting attendee and speaker and through substantial contributions to the work of G-CAN. A major criterion for a substantial mentoring record is a role guiding junior investigators in the field who have presented their work at G-CAN and elsewhere.

G-CAN Gold Medal Awardees to date:

• Anna Köttgen, Freiburg, Germany
• Michael Doherty, Nottingham, England
• Hyon Choi, Boston, USA
• Nicola Dalbeth, Auckland, New Zealand
• Robert Terkeltaub, San Diego, USA
• Tony Merriman, Birmingham, USA
• Lisa Stamp, Christchurch, New Zealand

G-CAN Junior Faculty Investigator Prize

Since 2024, G-CAN annually bestows a one-year research award, with this prize generously sponsored by Sobi. The grant is specifically to support a junior research faculty member carrying out investigation in the field of gout and related crystal-associated disease. The G-CAN Junior Faculty Investigator Prize provides $58,000 (USD) in direct costs, for a one-year non-renewable award period, to one eligible researcher meeting the criteria outlined below. Letters of intent are offered each spring, and the award winner is announced at the annual G-CAN research symposium.

Eligibility criteria

• MD, DO and/or PhD degree
• Assistant Professor or Instructor level research appointment, or another academic equivalent; no more than four years at the Assistant Professor level at the time the full application is received at G-CAN
• Age no greater than 38 at the time of the annual research symposium
• Position at a nonprofit academic center for research
• Substantial and current activity in the field of gout and/or related diseases
• Active membership in G-CAN at the time the letter of intent is submitted
• Not currently holding more than $300,000 (USD) in direct research costs as Principal Investigator
• Able to provide documentation that all protocols will be approved and in place for all animal and human studies (if invited by G-CAN, after reviewing the letter of intent, to submit a full application)

Junior Faculty Investigator Prize winners to date:

• 2026 – Edoardo Cipolletta, MD, PhD
• 2025 – Isidoro Cobo
• 2024 – Natalie McCormick

Presidential Emerging Career Investigator Award

In 2018, G-CAN began to bestow the Presidential Emerging Career Investigator Award. This award, designated by the G-CAN President, is given to up to four researchers annually in the G-CAN field. It recognizes investigators beyond the postdoc and fellowship career stage whose work is original, independent, high-quality, and heralds the promise of ongoing major contributions to the field.

Awardees since 2018 (in chronological order):

• Tristan Pascart, Lille
• Jessica Bertrand, Magdeburg
• Fabio Becce, Lausanne
• Mariano Andres, Alicante
• Georgios Filippou, Milan
• Sara Tedeschi, Boston
• Chio Yokose, Boston
• Tania Crisan, Cluj
• Natalie McCormick, Boston
• Isidoro Cobo, Birmingham, AL
• Edoardo Cipolletta, Ancona

2026 Awardees:

• Haibing Chen, Shanghai
• Jie Wei, Xiangya
• Yinghui Hua, Shanghai
• Jie Lu, Qingdao

 

H. Ralph Schumacher Award

H. Ralph Schumacher, Jr., MD – a rheumatologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine – was a pioneer in the science, management and teaching of gout and other crystal arthritis. Dr. Schumacher, a former member of G-CAN, passed away in 2017 from complications of ALS.

His research greatly contributed to knowledge and advancement in the field of gout and crystal-associated disease, including early insights into:

• Neutrophil degranulation in inflammation
• Synovitis of acute gouty arthritis
• The pathologic nature of MSU crystals and associated proteins
• Intra-articular CPP and apatite deposition and chondrocalcinosis
• Phagocytosis of crystals
• Importance of allopurinol in reducing frequency of gout attacks, and urate crystal deposits.

He also developed RCTs of novel gout therapies and outcome measure for gout, and trained rheumatologists in crystal identification.

Each year, G-CAN presents the H. Ralph Memorial Young Investigators Award to the emerging career investigator whose abstract submission to the annual symposium receives the highest- ranking score. The recipient is invited to give a special lecture during the annual meeting

Past Winners