Shulman, Stanhewicz Receive Prestigious American Physiological Society Awards

Rockville, Md.-The American Physiological Society (APS) is pleased to honor two outstanding member-researchers with the 2026 Physiology in Perspective: The Walter B. Cannon Award and the Henry Pickering Bowditch Award lectureships. These awards recognize the lifetime achievement of an established researcher and the physiological research excellence of an early-career researcher, respectively.

The Society's executive cabinet announces Gerald I. Shulman, MD, PhD, FAPS, as the 2026 Physiology in Perspective Walter B. Cannon Award Lectureship recipient. This lectureship is the most prestigious award that APS bestows.

The executive cabinet also announces Anna E. Stanhewicz, PhD, as the 2026 Henry Pickering Bowditch Award lecturer. The lectureship is awarded to an APS member who is age 42 or younger and eight years from the start of their first faculty or staff research scientist position beyond postdoctoral training. The recipient is recognized for original and outstanding accomplishments in the field of physiology.

This year's awardees will each deliver a lecture at the American Physiology Summit in April 2026.

About the Recipient

Gerald I. Shulman, MD, PhD, FAPS, is the George R. Cowgill Professor of Physiological Chemistry and a professor of Internal Medicine and Cellular & Molecular Physiology at Yale University. He is also an investigator emeritus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In addition, Shulman is co-director of the Yale Diabetes Research Center. Throughout four decades, he has transformed understanding of Type 2 diabetes and metabolic disease by uncovering the fundamental cellular defects that cause insulin resistance. Shulman pioneered innovative nuclear magnetic resonance techniques that revealed how hidden fat and disrupted signaling in muscle, liver and other tissues drive diabetes-issues that exercise, weight loss and targeted treatments can reverse. His discoveries have reshaped both basic science and clinical care

Anna E. Stanhewicz, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Health, Sport and Human Physiology at the University of Iowa. A rising leader in women's cardiovascular physiology research, her work has advanced understanding of how microvascular dysfunction contributes to cardiovascular and metabolic disease, particularly in women at high risk. Stanhewicz's research has identified key mechanisms linking pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes to long-term vascular impairments and has opened new paths for prevention and intervention.

"The Cannon and Bowditch award recipients represent excellence in the field of physiology," said APS President Robert Hester, PhD, FAPS. "Previous Cannon awardees have conducted extraordinary research, helping us to understand life, health and disease. Prior Bowditch lecturers, while being early in their careers, have demonstrated remarkable science in their respective areas. On behalf of the APS members and the physiology community, I extend my congratulations to Gerald Shulman and Anna Stanhewicz and look forward to their presentations at the American Physiology Summit."

Physiology is a broad area of scientific inquiry that focuses on how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. The American Physiological Society connects a global, multidisciplinary community of more than 10,000 biomedical scientists and educators as part of its mission to advance scientific discovery, understand life and improve health. The Society drives collaboration and spotlights scientific discoveries through its 16 scholarly journals and programming that support researchers and educators in their work.