Prof. Stephen Hawking Receives “Beacon Of Courage And Dedication Award” from Society For Brain Mapping & Therapeutics

The Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SMBT) 12^th Annual World Congress Black Tie Gala was held on Saturday, March 7, 2015 at the Los Angeles Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, CA, during which the Society awarded the “Beacon of Courage and Dedication Award” to Professor Stephen Hawking — a living ALS medical miracle.

Recorded on Monday, March 2 in Cambridge, England, the video presentation of “The Beacon of Courage and Dedication Award” to Professor Stephen Hawking, can be seen below:

Tim Kring, who is the writer/producer of Homeland, Heroes and of the miniseries DIG from the USA Network received the “Golden Axon Award.” This award is given to individuals outside of the medical community that have a major influence and are inspirations thanks to their good will and warm interest in science, medicine and technology. More personalities were awarded as well (read more).

The event was sponsored by Dr. Harry Kloor, (Star Trek: Voyager; Earth: Final Conflict), 3D Systems’ Gentle Giant Studios; Jupiter 9 Productions and Fireman Brew. The SBMT’s 12th Annual World Congress Black Tie Gala was held in partnership with the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics Annual World Congress, held March 6-8^th 2015 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Neurological disorders such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease represent a worldwide health crisis. The SBMT’s goal, offering a partial solution to insufficient international financial support, is to unite researchers from all parts of the world to work together on brain mapping and all the possibilities it represents, while increasing awareness for the desperate necessity of more public and private funding. The Gala’s goal is to emphasize awareness in order to support brain neuroscience around the world and to congratulate and honor the researchers that are actually focused on neuroscience.

“The cost of treating Alzheimer’s diseases in the U.S. alone is over $200 billion a year and in 10 years that number will be over $1 trillion a year. No world economy can sustain that. This is a crisis,” said Babak Keteb, the SBMT founder, in a press release.

Oscar® winner Dustin Hoffman; Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford; former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and former ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff are Past SBMT awardees.