The Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research

Vincent Cristofalo Square

The Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research is named in honor of Vincent Cristofalo, PhD, who devoted his professional career equally to two pursuits: advancing aging research, and encouraging younger scientists to investigate important problems in the biology of aging. Dr. Cristofalo set an example of wise leadership, sophisticated judgment, and solid accomplishment that remain an inspiration to all who knew him.

In his honor, the American Federation for Aging Research established the Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research.

Award
  • The award is a framed citation and carries a cash prize of $5,000.
  • The winner will have an opportunity to present an award lecture at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Aging Association in Madison, Wisconsin.

Criteria for Selection
  • The Cristofalo awardee should be a research scientist in an early or middle phase of his/her career.
  • The candidate should have already made major discoveries in the fundamental biology of aging and whose work is deemed likely to be highly influential for decades to come.
  • The typical candidate would be at the level of a late Assistant Professor or early Associate Professor, senior Associate and full Professors are NOT eligible.
  • The selection committee should be able to cite a series of research papers, recently published in highly regarded professional journals that have already led to important surprises and already begun to modulate our understanding of fundamental aspects of the genetics, cell biology, or molecular processes of aging.
  • The awardees' work should have acquired sufficient momentum, i.e. sufficient speed and direction, to convince the selection committee that discoveries of equal prominence and influence will continue to emerge for many years to come.
  • Scientists who have been well known for many years are not ideal as candidates for the Cristofalo award, because the award is instead intended specifically to honor researchers who are in the "rising star" stage of their career trajectories: people who are already highly respected by experts, but whose ascension to national and international eminence is easy to predict but not yet complete.
NOMINATION INSTRUCTIONS
  • You may only propose one candidate, we do not allow self-nomination.
  • There is no form. Send a letter of nomination highlighting aspects of the candidate’s career that relate to the selection criteria, and the nominee’s NIH-style biosketch via email to grants@afar.org by December 1, 2023. Indicate that you are nominating a candidate for the Cristofalo Award.

2023 Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award
in Aging Research:

Ming Xu, PhD

Assistant Professor, UConn Center on Aging and the Department of Genetics & Genome Sciences at UConn School of Medicine

Read a press release about Dr. Xu's award here
Xu ming UCH 2023 04 19 10 crop 2

Past Cristofalo Awardees

2020s

2022: Jamie N. Justice, PhD

2021: Morgan Levine, PhD

2020: Sean Curran, PhD

2010s

2019: Nathan K. LeBrasseur, PT, PhD

2018: Laura Niedernhofer, MD, PhD

2017: Dongsheng Cai, MD, PhD

2016: Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD

2015: Amy Wagers, PhD

2014: Rafael de Cabo, PhD

2013: Valter D. Longo, PhD

2012: Anne Brunet, PhD

2011: Matt Kaeberlein, PhD

2010: Andrew Dillin, PhD

2000s

2009: Brian Kennedy, PhD

2008: Ana Maria Cuervo, MD, PhD