A biennial award given to a single research fellow based upon demonstrated research merit and future potential for both scholarly academic research and a commitment to the training of research scientists in the field pancreas transplantation.

David Sutherland, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota, has a long and illustrious career with many firsts in the field of pancreas and islet transplantation. He began the world's first clinical islet transplants with his mentor, Dr. John Najarian, at the University of Minnesota in 1974.

He went on to perform the world's first living-donor partial pancreas transplant in 1979. He directed the longest standing pancreas transplant program at the University of Minnesota for decades, a program that has done more than 2400 pancreas transplants and nearly 1000 islet transplants. In 1980, he founded the International Pancreas Transplant Registry.

Beyond his clinical achievements, Dr. Sutherland gave back to the transplant community and his peers in many ways. He has trained hundreds of physicians and scientists both in his lab and on the floor. Over 100 of those trainees went on to direct pancreas and islet programs around the world. He has contributed over 1500 publications examining his groundbreaking research in the preclinical and clinical settings. And he is a leader in our community. Dr. Sutherland is Past-President of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (1990-91), the Cell Transplant Society (1995-96), the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (1996-97) and The Transplantation Society (2002-2004). He was the recipient of the Medawar Prize in 2012, the world's highest dedicated award for the most outstanding contributions in the field of transplantation.