CARES Award

Recognizing Those Who Improve the Lives of People Impacted by HIV/AIDS

While the CARES Award is intended as an international award, in its inaugural year Beckman Coulter wants it to focus on the needs of one of the regions of the world most stricken by HIV/AIDS. The 2017 call for nominations was launched at the annual congress of the African Society of Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), which took place 3rd-8th December 2016, Cape Town, South Africa. ASLM is a pan-African professional body aiming to improve laboratory services. The Award winner will be announced at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), which will be held in Abidjan, Cote D‘Ivoire, 4th - 9th December, 2017.

Nominations will be made via the CARES website, or direct via paper or online form. Once a name has been added to the list of nominations, the HIV community will have the chance to vote in their support. The three nominees with the greatest number of nominations will be put forward for the final judging panel. An internationally recognized panel of judges selects the CARES Award recipient(s) and bestows an award of $5,000.

Qualifying Nominees

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for this year’s AIDS heroes: people who have a vision for change that will better the AIDS community in a meaningful way, and who have created a mechanism for acting on that vision in ways that deliver measurable results. Potential winners can be nurses, healthcare workers, national coordinators, lab scientists and clinicians, or people who are active in community outreach work, including a social worker providing AIDS counselling. An internationally recognized panel of judges selects the CARES Award recipient(s) and bestows an award of $5,000.

We evaluate based on the following criteria:

• Individuals, not organizations. We want to hear about the individuals who created the vision on which the organization/endeavor is based.
• Nominees who have created a mechanism for acting on their vision in ways that deliver measurable results.
• Nominees who exhibit impact in their work within the HIV community.
• Nominees whose values and universal regard for humanity inspire others and serve as a role model within their community.

Samuel Boova, Director Alliance Development for High Burden HIV Markets said:

"The award is to give a platform to the work and stories of those we see as the unsung heroes of individual dedication, commitment and courage or who have made a difference in the battle against HIV/AIDS. The nominee will be selected by an independent panel of judges and will be featured on the CARES website. But it is not just the final winner whom we will be honouring; the story behind the top three nominees will also be featured on the CARES website."

Nomination Process and Application Form

The annual cycle of The Beckman Coulter CARES Award begins on World AIDS Day 2016, 1st December with a Call for Nominations. Nominees are bought to the attention of the CARES Award by a nominating team consisting of a Nominee and a Nominator. Nominees cannot self-nominate. The Nominator acts as the point of contact between the CARES Award and the nominee during the nomination and evaluation process.

The Call for Nominations opens December 1st 2016 and closes 15th September 2017 to allow nominating teams to adequately prepare their nominations. As the nomination process requires a significant commitment of time and energy on your part, we encourage teams to review the nomination rules and the nomination forms carefully before proceeding. Please refer to the FAQs page with questions and concerns and instructions on how to deliver your nomination.

Between September 15th and September 16st 2017, Nominees are listed on the CARES Award website to enable voting by the HIV/AIDS community. The CARES Award International Panel of Judges then shortlists and chooses a winner between September 16st – November 15th 2017.

The CARES Award winner will be announced at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), which will be held in Abidjan, Cote D‘Ivoire, 4th - 9th December, 2017. All nominations will be duly acknowledged by email, to all members of the nominating team, with a copy sent to the Nominee.

CARES Award International Panel of Judges

Maurine M. Murtagh

CEO of International Diagnostics Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Maurine Murtagh is also a consultant specializing in diagnostics for global health, in which capacity she works with the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UNITAID, among others. Previously, Maurine was the Director of Diagnostics Services for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), a position she held for almost five years. Prior to joining CHAI, Maurine was a corporate partner at the law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin in San Francisco, California, where her focus was on mergers and acquisitions and securities law. She graduated from Georgetown University and holds an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.Phil. in finance from Columbia University and a J.D. from Duke University.

Francois Venter

MD, FCP (SA), Mmed, DTM&H, Dip HIV Management (SA), Deputy Executive Director of the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Dr. Venter leads multiple anti-retroviral treatment optimisation studies, and has an active interest in public sector access to HIV services. He is currently working on new first- and second-line antiretroviral options, patient linkage to care interventions, and self-testing projects. Previously, he lead large PEPFAR-funded HIV programmes in South Africa, including one that focused on truckers and sex workers. He has been represented on South African and regional guidelines for over a decade, having done almost all his training with South Africa.

His major research currently focuses on low-dose stavudine, low-dose darunavir in second-line treatment, and combinations of newer drugs to improve the resistance and potency of first-line, as well as using patient information to drive improved linkage to care after diagnosis.

Ana Teasdale

Senior Adviser, Strategic Initiatives Pangaea Global AIDS

Ana Teasdale is the Senior Adviser for Strategic Initiatives. She provides senior counsel to Pangaea's CEO and Leadership Team on new and current programs and strategies, particularly in integrating HIV and broader women's health priorities, and liaison with the international community. Ana has over 15 years of experience in international development. Prior to joining Pangaea Global AIDS, she worked at Susan G. Komen (Komen), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). At Komen Ana oversaw international community outreach grants and several global initiatives in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East to encourage breast cancer awareness, screening and treatment. She launched Komen's first public-private partnership in The Bahamas (September 2012) and has played a key role in strengthening Komen's relationships with many NGO, goverment, and corporate partners worldwide. At CRS she supported CRS field offices in the Middle East and Southeast Asia through strategic planning, training workshops, proposal development, and evaluations. At NDI she helped develop the Institute's political party, civil society, and parliamentary programs in Eastern Europe by collaborating with various political stakeholders.

A native of Serbia, Ana holds a B.A. in international relations and an M.A. in international communications with a focus on international development, both from the American University in Washington, D.C.

Lesley Scott

Professor Lesley Scott, PhD, Department of Molecular Medicine and Haematology at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa.

Professor Scott is an applied scientist working in the field of laboratory medicine in the department of Molecular Medicine and Haematology. She is a WITS graduate, having performed all her qualifications at this University and for the past 18 years, focussing her research on designing, developing, evaluating and implementing laboratory-quality diagnostics for HIV and TB, and 9 years prior in therapeutics, vaccine research and manufacture. As head of research and development for the National Priority Program of the National Health Laboratory Service and Laboratory Director for the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, Lesley and her team have developed patented technologies used throughout the public sector laboratories in South Africa and other resource-limited settings, and developed a companion diagnostic that ensures quality testing in high-throughput and point-of-care tuberculosis testing centres, which has expanded into a global program now serving 24 countries. Lesley continues to support the academic program at WITS University and supervises scientists, registrars and biomedical engineering students in many exciting postgraduate projects to improve patient care. Since 2004, Lesley has funded her group's activities through grants from NIH, Grand Challenges Canada, CDC, USAID/Pepfar and others, and contributed to 78 publications and 130 conference abstracts resulting in several health care policy changes.

Francesca Celletti

M.D., Vice President of Innovation and New Technologies at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Francesca Celletti is a global health expert, with a focus on innovations and health systems, global health initiatives and HIV/AIDS. She manages the innovation to optimize program implementation efforts and expand access to HIV services, increase quality and improve return on investments. Before this position, Francesca was Senior Director for Technical Leadership and Sustainability and she was overseeing the work of the Foundation on Technical Assistance and Health Systems. Before joining EGPAF, she was a Coordinator of the Health Systems cluster at WHO, where she lead the WHO global effort to scale up the health workforce, including mid-level cadres and community health workers in low- and middle-income countries. Before joining WHO, she worked in several countries in Africa and the Middle East to help goverments develop national health policies and implement programmes aimed at strengthening health systems and optimizing the service delivery system.

A native of Italy, Francesca received an M.D. degree from the University of Bologna, Italy. She trained in internal medicine and intensive care at University of Bologna and Harvard University, has a post-doctoral degree from Stanford University and Ph.D. in International Relations from the Geneva School of Diplomacy.

Rules and Eligibility

The CARES Award (“Award”) will consist of a $5,000 donation, made in the name of the recipient of the Award, to a charitable organization chosen by the recipient of the Award from a pre-defined list. The Award is designed to recognize individuals who have shown care, dedication and commitment in their communities as part of the fight against HIV/AIDS. Nominees should represent humanitarian values reflective of sustainable work over a period of time, and will be individuals who are considered within their communities as people who have made a difference helping people.

Eligibility for nomination

1. Nominees must be individuals who are citizens of and reside in a sub-Saharan African country that is not subjected to embargo by the United States government.
2. Nominees may be employees of a charitable organization, laboratory, hospital or civic organization. They may also be individuals who represent a personal mission and whose work is voluntary.
3. Individuals may not nominate themselves for the Award; self-nominations will be discarded.
4. Individuals who have previously won an Award will be ineligible for future Awards.
5. By submitting a nomination, the person who does so represents that he/she has obtained the consent of the nominee to participate in the Award program.
6. Officers, employees, agents and contractors of Beckman Coulter and its affiliated and subsidiary companies, including all Danaher operating companies, as well as their family members, are ineligible both to be nominated and to make nominations.
7. Members of the Independent Advisory Committee are ineligible both to be nominated and to make nominations.
8. Each individual may nominate only one nominee.

Nomination process

1. Nominees may be selected by anyone who is eligible to make a nomination, by using the application form provided
2. The nomination period will run from 1st December, 2016 until September 15th, 2017 ("Closing Date"). Nominations received after the Closing Date will not be considered.

Selection of Award recipient

1. Award recipients will be selected by an independent advisory committee consisting of Maurine M. Murtagh; Francois Venter; Ana Teasdale; Francesca Celletti and Lesley Scott (“Committee”).
2. The Committee will, by simple majority vote, select the recipient of the Award from among a shortlist of 3 nominees after review of all nominations received by the Closing Date.
3. In selecting the recipient of the Award, the Committee will consider, in particular, the way in which the recipient represents the values outlined in section A of these Rules.
4. Selection from among the nominees will not be influenced by race, gender, age, sexual orientation, political or religious affiliation, place of employment, purchase of products or services from Beckman Coulter or its affiliated companies, or any other reason unconnected with the values outlined in section A of these Rules.
5. The number of nominations received for a single nominee will not affect the Committee’s decision.
6. The Committee will, in selecting the Recipient of the Award, follow these Rules.

Conditions of participation; right to withdraw

1. All nominees will be notified in writing of their nomination for the Award no later than September 15th, 2017.
2. Nominees will have the right to withdraw from the selection process at any time.
3. Any nominee whose written acceptance of these Rules is not received by September 15th, 2017 will be deemed to have withdrawn from the selection process.
4. Acceptance of a nomination indicates that the nominee accepts Beckman Coulter’s right to publicly name the nominee as the Award recipient or as a runner-up, including but not limited to issuing a press release and publishing a related dossier on the Beckman Coulter CARES Award Website.
5. If a nominee is chosen as the Award recipient, he or she will be required to attend an award ceremony.

Announcement of Award recipient

1. The 3 shortlisted nominees, including the eventual recipient of the Award, will be notified privately no later than November 15th, 2017, and will be publicly announced at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) to be held in Abidjan, Cote D‘Ivoire, 4th - 9th December, 2017.
2. Nominees who have not been shortlisted will not receive any notification.

Miscellaneous

1. The Award is non-exchangeable and non-transferable and is not redeemable for other prizes.
2. Beckman Coulter reserves the right to cancel the Award at any time before announcing the recipient of the Award.
3. The Committee’s decision as to the recipient of the Award is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
4. Personal details submitted in connection with the Award will be treated with the utmost confidence by Beckman Coulter. For further details please refer to our privacy policy.