The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is pleased to announce Dr. Julio J. Ramirez as the winner of its 2025 Innovative Leadership Award. The Innovative Leadership Award recognizes commendable innovative leadership in the biological sciences community.
“Dr. Ramirez’s dedication to mentoring and fostering welcoming scientific environments is exemplary,” said AIBS CEO Scott Glisson. “We applaud his steadfast dedication to both the biological sciences and to the students who form the foundation of our community. On behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, I offer my congratulations and thank Dr. Ramirez for his career-long contributions to science and society.”
Dr. Julio J. Ramirez is currently the R. Stuart Dickson Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Program at Davidson College, where he has served since 1986. His research interests focus on the recovery of function after central nervous system injury, with an emphasis on determining the functional significance of hippocampal neuroplasticity. Over the course of his career, Dr. Ramirez has received several awards and mentored well over 150 undergraduates in his laboratory and has been a national leader in promoting innovative mentoring approaches in biological psychology and neuroscience. His teaching, mentoring, and research efforts have been supported with numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Ramirez received the 2009 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Barack Obama in recognition of his national leadership in mentoring undergraduate students and junior faculty from underrepresented groups in the sciences. His recognition continued in 2017 when he was given the CUR Goldwater Scholars Faculty Mentor Award for his mentorship of Goldwater Scholars and his national leadership in undergraduate research. Dr. Ramirez was the Founding President of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience and currently serves as the Chair of the Neuroscience Training Committee at the Society for Neuroscience.