UAB professor receives prestigious national lifetime achievement award for fostering values of mentoring

Written by: Katherine Kirk
Media Contact: Tehreem Khan

Steven Austad, Ph.D., distinguished professor and Protective Life Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging Research Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been awarded the inaugural George M. Martin Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award, honoring his role in transferring knowledge and leaderships skills to mentees in aging research.

This is one of three awards presented by the American Federation for Aging Research to a faculty member at a United States institution who has played a transformative role in the professional or personal development of their students and mentees.

"George was a good friend, colleague and mentor of mine who set the standard for mentorship and leadership in the biology of aging," Austad said. "I am more than honored to receive it."

The award was open to all faculty scientists in the field and required a letter of nomination describing how the person reflects the purpose of the award. Austad was nominated for this award by his former student Darren Baker, who is now a professor at the Mayo Clinic.

"It came as a big surprise to me. I did not know that Darren even considered me a mentor," Austad said. "I think mentoring is less about guiding someone's scientific ideas and more about modeling a career path and professional conduct of an emerging scientist."

Austad attributes receiving this award to the 10 years of co-directing a summer course on molecular biology of aging in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He co-directed the course alongside recent Nobel Prize winner Gary Ruvkun.

"Each summer, 20 of the best and brightest emerging scholars in the field took the course, and I have kept in contact with many of these over the years," Austad said. "I had the opportunity to advise and support them as their careers developed."

Austad says the most memorable moments in his career have been when he helped a student or a mentee.

"Running into a former student or mentee and hearing how I was instrumental to their career goals or success is so rewarding," Austad said. "There are few things in academic life more gratifying than that."

Austad has dedicated his career to studying the biological aging process using traditional and nontraditional animal species, and has received multiple awards for his groundbreaking research. His work spans laboratory and field studies, aiming to uncover the fundamental causes of aging, with the ultimate goal of developing interventions to slow age-related health decline in humans. Additionally, Austad is a prolific author and editor, having contributed to five books and over 200 scientific papers and book chapters, covering nearly every aspect of biological aging.

Austad will receive the award along with a $5,000 cash prize at the AFAR Awards Ceremony on Nov. 14 in Seattle, Washington.

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