Lizzi Award

2025 Award Rules / Eligibility and Annual Awards Process Information

For the 20th consecutive year, the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound will be awarding The Frederic Lizzi Early Career Award to an individual who is relatively early in their professional career (normally not more than 10 years since graduation), and who has been active in the general area of therapeutic ultrasound through ISTU, their National Society, other National Societies, Regional or International Organizations. The successful candidate will have contributed substantially to the advancement of therapeutic ultrasound through one or more of the following: published papers in the scientific literature, the development of commercial techniques or devices, and/or clinical practice. This prestigious award will be presented at ISTU 2025 in Banff, Canada.

Please send nomination materials as a group or separately to Cyril Lafon, Ph.D. by email to [email protected] NO LATER THAN January 31, 2025. The subject line should read "2025 ECA Application: Nominees Name". A confirmation email will be sent within 48 hours to confirm safe receipt of the application.

Rules
One prize is to be presented each year. In special circumstances a maximum of two awards may be presented each year. Nominees must be current members of ISTU. A nominee must be relatively early in their professional career. For someone working in the field or similar field continuously since graduation, early career is interpreted as no more than 10 years since the year of graduation year at the time of application (i.e. inclusive of applicants having been awarded their terminal degree at any point in 2014 or later).  In special circumstances, an individual with more than 10 years from their graduation will be considered (for example, someone who took substantial time away from their career after graduation).

Process and Application Instructions
Nominees may be self-nominated, or be nominated by any peer (not necessarily a member of the Society). To enable fair comparison of candidates, ISTU has adopted a standardized application format. Nominations not adhering to the standardized format will be returned to the nominator. The nomination package must include the following:

• Two standardized nomination letters using the provided template (max 2 pages each).
  • Candidates may self-nominate
  • Letters exceeding 2 pages will be truncated before being circulated to the award committee.
  • If more than 2 letters of reference are received, only the first two received will be included in the nomination package.
• Professional history using the provided template
  • Professional history documents not following the provided template will be returned to the nominee/nominator.
• (Optional) Request for extension to window of eligibility using the provided template

In the event a nominee is not an awardee in a particular year, provided the nominee is still eligible under the early career criteria, that person's application may be considered again the following year. Nominations will not automatically be re-considered. All new materials may be submitted, or the previous year's materials may be resubmitted with a new nomination letter.

Eligibility

• Nominees must be current members of ISTU.
• Nominees must be no more than 10 years from year of graduation of their terminal degree at the time of application. Specifically, the application deadline for the 2025 award is January 31, 2025. Therefore, the competition is open to those having received their terminal degree at any point in 2014 or later.
• The 10 year window of eligibility will be extended for those who have taken significant time away from their careers following graduation. Medical, parental or caregiving leaves will be credited at time taken. Time credited for other types of leave will be at the Chair’s discretion. Those requesting an extension to the window of eligibility must include a formal request in their nomination package using the provided template. The information in this document is used only by the Chair to determine the eligibility for extension, and is not circulated to the awards committee.

Awards Committee Composition
The Chair of the Lizzi award committee will be appointed by the ISTU Board of Directors. Committee membership will include representation from the three geographic regions (the Americas, Europe/Africa/Middle East, Asia/Australia/Pacific) as well as gender representation. All committee members must disclose conflicts of interest with respect to the applicant pool. The Chair will be responsible for managing disclosed conflicts.

Assessment
A minimum of three candidates must be nominated in a given year in order for the award to be handed out. However, it is expected that there will be many highly qualified nominees in any year. Normally, one prize will be awarded, but the recommendation to award two prizes may be made to the Board of Directors, at the committee’s discretion. The remaining years of eligibility of each candidate will be considered when making a final recommendation, and may be a deciding factor when there are many highly deserving candidates.

Candidates will be evaluated first and foremost on scientific excellence and their contributions to the advancement of therapeutic ultrasound. However, the top applicants will also show evidence of service, including but not limited to service to ISTU, their National society, and/or other relevant national or international societies, and outreach or other activities that introduce new audiences to therapeutic ultrasound. Assessments will be performed in a holistic manner, considering the many ways in which candidates may have impacted the field.