The NAVBO Meritorious Awards Committee named Dr. Stephen M. Schwartz, University of Washington, as the recipient of the 2001 Earl P. Benditt Research Career Award. Dr. Schwartz’s interest in blood vessels began as an undergraduate at Harvard College where he studied with Dr. Keith Porter and Dr. Guido Majno. He obtained the M.D. degree in 1967 from Boston University and the Ph.D. degree in 1973 under the guidance of Dr. Earl Benditt at the University of Washington. Reflecting an intense intellectual curiosity, Dr. Schwartz’s career has covered many areas of vascular biology and is widely recognized for exceptional creativity and imagination. His research accomplishments range from early studies on endothelial cell replication and permeability to his current interests in applications of genomics to vascular disease. As a Ph.D. student with Dr. Benditt, he developed methods to study replication of aortic endothelium en face that remain in use today. Later, together with his own students and colleagues, he mapped the kinetics of endothelial regeneration after injury, discovered the relationship between hypertension and smooth muscle polypoidy, identified important endothelial cell-cell adhesion molecules, showed that smooth muscle cell replication can be independent of exogenous mitogens, and made fundamental contributions to ongoing studies in smooth muscle apoptosis, diversity and atherosclerosis. He serves on numerous advisory and editorial boards in part due to recognition of his extraordinary breadth of knowledge. He has also trained a number of students who have gone on to become major figures in vascular biology research in their own right. He is co-founder of both the Vascular Cell Biology Gordon Conference and NAVBO. Dr. Schwartz’s Benditt Award Lecture will be given on May 11, 2001 at the Second Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology in Arlington, Virginia.