Mid-Career Innovation Award
[Receiving this award] offered more visibility for my work, and made other colleagues more curious than usual about my work, and has already led to collaborations and opportunities for dissemination of our intervention.
2026 Nominations close on March 17
This award is given to an individual who has used innovative methods to advance the field of traumatic stress in the areas of prevention, research, treatment, teaching, policy, and advocacy. This individual should be within 10 to 15 years since the award of their highest degree (excluding career disruptions*).
Award Criteria
Nominations will be judged against the following criteria:
- Use of innovative methods to advance the field of traumatic stress in the areas of prevention, research, treatment, teaching, policy, and advocacy
- Evidence of a scientifically informed approach to innovation
- Evidence of reach and impact of the innovative research, treatment or knowledge translation activity
Eligibility Criteria
- Nominees can be self-nominated or nominated by someone else
- Preference will be given to nominees who are members of ISTSS
- Nominees should have received their highest degree between 10 and 15 years ago (excluding career disruptions*).
- Applications are especially encouraged for innovative approaches that address diverse populations and health disparities
*Career disruptions of up to 12 months will be taken into account when calculating the time limit of this award. Career disruptions are defined as periods of leave or reduced effort due to childcare, caring responsibilities, illness, and/or other circumstances (e.g., time spent away in humanitarian settings).
Award Benefits
The awardee will receive
- Complimentary registration to the ISTSS Annual Meeting (excludes Pre-Meeting Institutes)
- A plaque presented at the Annual Meeting
- An announcement will appear in the ISTSS newsletter Stresspoints and be posted to the ISTSS website
Nomination Requirements
- A statement addressing the award criteria (up to 500 words)
- A statement outlining how the applicant meets the criteria of having received their highest qualification in the past 10 to 15 years, including evidence of any career disruption that may extend this timeline (up to 250 words).
- A two-page CV (minimum 10 point font)
**Materials may be submitted in any language. Materials in a language other than English will be run through available translation software before being passed onto the awards committee for review.
Nominations submitted after the deadline of March 17, 2026, 11.59pm US Eastern Time, incomplete nominations, or nominations that do not adhere to submission requirements (word and page limits) will not be considered.
Past Innovation Award Winners
2025 Arash Javanbakht, MD
2024 Jennifer S. Stevens PhD
2023 Dr. Talya Greene
2022 Dr. Roxanne Cohen Silver and Dr. E. Alison Holman
2021 Amy Ai, PhD
2020 Albert “Skip” Rizzo, PhD