Amemiya Awarded for Research, Teaching, Outreach and Service

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Professor Chris Amemiya, former interim director of the Health Sciences Research Institute, has been honored by the Pan American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology (PASEDB) with the Service Award.

This prestigious award celebrates a society member who has made exceptional contributions to PASEDB and evolutionary developmental biology through research, teaching, education, outreach, service to PASEDB as well as serving the scientific community.

“Chris put his all into our scientific society, doing all the hard work of serving as president and keeping the society strong through very difficult years,” said University of Maryland entomology Professor Leslie Pick, past president of the society. “He did all this with passion, not because he wanted the credit or fame, but because he truly cares.”

Amemiya served as society president from 2019 through 2022, through the COVID-19 pandemic, and remains affiliated with its executive council, providing leadership as past president.

He remains involved in planning the society's biennial meetings and mentoring council members, sharing his knowledge of historical precedents and best practices.

“Before becoming PASEDB president, Chris helped coordinate the 2019 biennial meeting that took place in Miami. As president, he was the lead organizer of the 2022 PASEDB meeting, which he arranged to be co-organized with the Society for Developmental Biology, a first for our society,” wrote Pick and society President Karen Crow, a San Francisco State University biology professor, in their nomination letter. “This meeting took place in Vancouver, Canada, and was one of the first, large post-pandemic meetings for our field and it was enormously successful.”

Crow and Pick are former collaborators with Amemiya. Crow worked with him as far back as her postdoctoral days at Yale University in the 2000s.

“When we swapped stories about the discovery of the Indonesian coelacanth species back in 1997, I knew Chris was going to become a friend as well as a valued collaborator,” Crow said. “Two attributes I appreciate about Chris are his enthusiasm for field work and his interest in a variety of systems beyond vertebrates, his area of expertise.”

Pick and Crow praised Amemiya for his leadership skills and “no-nonsense, get-things-done” attitude, his gentleness with others, his steady guidance, and his willingness to lead or help society and promote developmental biology in general.

They also recognize Chris’ acumen as a leading researcher in the field, particularly as an early driver and advocate of the use of genomics for biological inquiry.

As part of the award, Amemiya presented a keynote lecture at the society’s recent biennial meeting in Miami: “Keeping the Evo-Devo Flame Going: How Service and Cool Research Have Contributed to My Story.”