Worobey Receives Sterling Controversy Prize
Michael Worobey
UA evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey has earned the Simon Fraser University's Nora and Ted Sterling prize in support of controversy.
Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who pioneered controversial research into the origins of HIV/AIDS, is the 2009 recipient of Simon Fraser University's Nora and Ted Sterling prize in support of controversy.
The prize will be presented on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. at SFU's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Burnaby, British Columbia. Worobey also will deliver a lecture, titled "Plotting A Course Through Controversy: A search for the origins of HIV."
"I actually thought the person who nominated me was pulling my leg when he described this prize for doing controversial research," said Worobey. "But I see the logic of it now as something that celebrates the deeper understanding that often grows out of vigorous debate, and I'm pleased to be recognized for that."
Worobey's work on the origins of HIV, published in Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, prompted criticisms from some members the scientific community, the media, on the Internet and from the public – from rappers to ambassadors. His safety was threatened and his integrity questioned.
However, the importance of his work has been recognized and honored and his discoveries are now widely accepted.
Among his awards are a research fellowship at St. John's College, Oxford, a Packard Foundation fellowship and the Frontiers of Science Kavli fellowship of the U.S. National Academy of Science.
"The Sterling prize was conceived to honor research which challenges entrenched positions with reason, evidence and compassion," says Ronald Ydenberg, Simon Fraser University biological scientist and selection committee chair.
"Not only does Dr. Worobey's work exceed this standard, it represents the very heart of the role the university should play in society."
Worobey, an associate professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the UA, graduated from SFU in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in science. A Rhodes scholarship led him to Oxford to obtain a doctorate in zoology.
Nora and the late Ted Sterling, the founding chair of computing science at SFU, established the prize in 1993.
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