Blake Shaw Wilson

State North Carolina General Assembly · 2021 The award was created by the General Assembly in 1961 to recognize significant contributions to the state and nation in the fields of fine arts, literature, public service and science. One of the principal developers of the cochlear implant, Wilson’s research has restored hearing to more than a million people around the world More about this award

Distinguished Alumni Award

University Duke University · 2019

Fellow (NAI)

Other National Academy of Inventors · 2019 More about this award

Lifetime Achievement Award

International 15th Annual International Conference on Cochlear Implants and Other Implantable Auditory Technologies · 2017 To Prof. Dr. Eng. Blake Wilson for his pioneering work in the development of cochlear implants, his outstanding scientific and professional career, and his contribution to all persons with a severe hearing impairment

Helmholtz-Rayleigh Interdisciplinary Silver Medal in Psychological & Physiological Acoustics, Speech Communication, and Signal Processing in Acoustics

International Acoustical Society of America · 2017

Election to the National Academy of Engineering

National National Academy of Engineering · 2017

Distinguished Research in the Field

Department Duke Graduate Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering · 2016

Guest of Honor, 149th Annual Meeting of the American Otological Society, Chicago, IL, USA

International American Otological Society · 2016

Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America

Scholarly Society Acoustical Society of America · 2016

Distinguished BME Lecture

University The Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA · 2016

C. Paul and Beth K. Stocker Lecture

University Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering and Technology and the Robe Leadership Institute at Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA · 2016 This lecture was one in a series by winners of the Russ Prize.

Eduard Rhein Technology Award

International Eduard Rhein Foundation · 2016 The Eduard Rhein Technology Award recognizes outstanding research results or outstanding developments in the fields of radio, television, or information techniques. Some of the prior winners include CE Shannon, RW Hamming, AJ Viterbi, P-L Lauterbur (who later became a Nobel Laureate), and MR Schroeder; more information about the Award is presented at http://ers.2i3.de/html/hauptseite_e.html.

Guest of Honor, 4th Munich LMU Hearing Implant Symposium 2015: Hearing Implants Around the World, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

International The conference organizers · 2015

RTI Fellows Distinguished Lecture

Other RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA · 2015 This talk was the inaugural lecture in the series of RTI Fellows Distinguished Lectures.

Graham Fraser Memorial Lecture

International Graham Fraser Foundation, London, UK · 2015 The Graham Fraser Memorial Lectures celebrate his life and achievements and are the most prestigious lectures in the fields of cochlear implants and remediation of severe losses in hearing. More information about the lectures is presented at http://www.grahamfraserfoundation.org.uk/memlects.htm.

Honorary Doctorate in Medicine

International Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden · 2015

Duke Engineering 75th Anniversary Lecture

University Duke University Office of Provost; Duke University Pratt School of Engineering; and Duke University School of Medcine · 2015

The Gold Medal of the Paul Sabatier University

International The Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France · 2015

Honorary Doctorate in Medicine

International University of Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain · 2015

The Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize

International National Academy of Engineering · 2015 The Russ Prize is the top honor worldwide in bioengineering and is one of three Prizes awarded by the United States’ National Academy of Engineering that are collectively known as the “Nobel Prizes of Engineering.” The Russ Prize is awarded biennially and the other two Prizes are awarded annually; only 15 persons have received the Russ Prize since the inception of the awards program in 2001. Further details about the Russ Prize are presented at http://www.nae.edu/Projects/Awards/RussPrize.aspx.

Göttingen Sensory Lecture

International Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany · 2014 The Lecture was jointly supported by the collaborative sensory research grant on Cellular Mechanisms of Sensory Processing and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience.

Hopkins Medicine Distinguished Speaker Lecture

International Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA · 2014 The following is a description of the Distinguished Speakers Series: “The Distinguished Speaker Series was established by a group of medical students at Johns Hopkins to inform and inspire medical scientists, clinicians, public health leaders, and students through scholarly exchange with the world’s foremost visionaries and thinkers. Our inaugural event brought together seven recipients of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” for a lively dialogue on the ways in which creative minds engage the public. Since then, we have hosted Lasker Award recipient Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, noted bioethicist Dr. Charles Bosk, and Dr. Francoise Barré-Sinoussi, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and co-discoverer of HIV. Our most recent events featured Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, cognitive psychologist and expert on expertism, Dr. Robert Langer, head of the largest biomedical engineering laboratory in the world, and five exceptional faculty at Johns Hopkins presenting their personal and professional journeys in medicine.”

Life Fellow of the IEEE

International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers · 2014 The Fellow appointment is the highest honor bestowed by the IEEE and less than 0.1 percent of the voting members are elevated to the Fellow grade each year.

Bull City Hall of Fame

Other Chamber of Commerce, Durham, NC, USA · 2014 Wilson was one of three inaugural inductees into the Hall of Fame. The other two inductees were Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D. and winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Mary-Dell Chilton, Ph.D. and winner of the 2013 World Food Prize. Durham, North Carolina, USA, also is known as the “Bull City” and “The City of Medicine.” It is the home of Duke University, the Duke University Health System, North Carolina Central University, and the Durham Performing Arts Center. Durham is a vibrant city with a diverse population of about 240,000.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center Flexner Discovery Lecture

International Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA · 2014 The following is a description of the Flexner Discovery Lectures: “The Flexner Discovery Lecture Series features the world’s most eminent scientists, who speak on the highest-impact research and policy issues in science and medicine today. Prior speakers have included multiple Nobel Laureates and members of the United States’ Institute of Medicine.”

2014 Lasker Lecture, presented at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

International The Lasker Foundation · 2014

Scholar in Residence, Pratt School of Engineering

University Duke University · 2013 This appointment was created for Wilson, was approved by the President of the University, and has a five-year term that is renewable.

Chandra Sekhar Lecture

International The Chandra Sekhar Fund and the New York University School of Medicine, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA · 2013 The Chandra Sekhar lectures honor Dr. Hosakere K. Chandra Sekhar for his work in temporal bone histology and for his contributions to education and clinical care during his distinguished career at the NYU School of Medicine, which began in 1971. The lectures are supported by a fund established by his family upon his retirement in 2008; the present lecture by Wilson was the second in the series of lectures.

Commendation of the American Cochlear Implant Alliance

International American Cochlear Implant Alliance · 2013 Wilson was one of the first three recipients of the Commendation of the American Cochlear Implant Alliance. The other two recipients were Ingeborg J. Hochmair, Ph.D., and Graeme M. Clark, M.D., Ph.D. The Commendation for each of them was "in recognition of the lifetime contributions contributions of 2013 Lasker Award winner Dr. (name) in serving those with hearing loss through (his or her) remarkable contributions to the science of cochlear implantation."

Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award

International Lasker Foundation · 2013 This award was to Blake Wilson, Graeme Clark, and Ingeborg Hochmair, "for the development of the modern cochlear implant -- a device that bestows hearing to individuals with profound deafness." The Lasker Awards are among the most respected science prizes in the world and are second only to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for recognizing advances in medicine and medical science; indeed, fully a third of the winners of a Lasker Award go on to win the Nobel Prize at a later time. The Lasker Awards are popularly known as “America’s Nobels.” Only about 250 persons have received a Lasker Award since the inception of the awards program in 1945. Please see http://www.laskerfoundation.org/ for further details about the Lasker Foundation and its awards.

Co-Chair, with Co-Chair Christoph von Ilberg, M.D., of the Presbycusis Research Meeting, Munich, Germany

International The conference sponsors · 2012

Dean’s Leadership in Innovation Seminar

University Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney, Australia · 2011

Guest of Honor, Munich Hearing Implant Symposium: Reaching New Heights, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

International The conference organizers · 2011 Wilson was one of two Guests of Honor. The other was Jan Helms, M.D.

One of Wilson's inventions was named as one of the four greatest inventions or discoveries in the 50-year history of the Research Triangle Park

Other Triangle Business Journal · 2009 The Research Triangle Park is the largest research park in the USA and includes more than 170 research organizations whose aggregate number of full-time employees exceeds 42,000. The other three inventions or discoveries were the UPC barcode, invented at IBM; the anti-cancer drug Taxol, discovered and developed at the Research Triangle Institute; and the anti-viral drug AZT used to treat HIV-AIDS, invented at GlaxoSmithKline.

Guest of Honor, Ninth European Symposium on Paediatric Cochlear Implantation, Warsaw, Poland

International The conference organizers · 2009 This Symposium is among the largest conferences in the field of cochlear implants; more than 1,700 delegates attended the symposium in Warsaw, which was an all-time high for these symposia.

Neel Distinguished Research Lectureship

International American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery · 2008 The two-part lecture for this year was given with Richard T. Miyamoto, M.D., Chair of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine; the attendance for the Annual Meeting approximated 8,500. The prior Neel Lecture was given in 2007 by Elias Zerhouni, M.D., the Director of the NIH.

Invitation to write the lead article for the special issue of the journal Hearing Research on Frontiers of Auditory Prosthesis Research: Implications for Clinical Practice

International The editors for the special issue · 2008

Distinguished Alumnus Award

University Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University · 2007

Guest of Honor, Meeting of the Clinical Otologic Research Team (CORT), Cal-Creek Ranch, near Santa Fe, NM, USA

National The CORT · 2006 The CORT includes leading otologists in the United States.

Chair, with Co-Chair Michael F. Dorman, Ph.D., of the Hearing Preservation Workshop V, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

International The conference organizers · 2006

Guest of Honor, Sixth Wullstein Symposium 2006: New Developments in Hearing Technology, Würzburg, Germany

International The conference organizers · 2006

Guest of Honor, Naval Science & Technological Laboratory, Visakhapatnam, India

International Indian Naval Science & Technological Laboratory, Visakhapatnam, India · 2006

Special Guest of Honor, Ninth International Conference on Cochlear Implants and Related Sciences, Vienna, Austria

International The conference organizers · 2006 Blake Wilson, Graeme M. Clark, and James F. Battey, Jr. are the only people to be so honored in this series of the largest conferences in the field of cochlear implants; the Vienna Conference was attended by more than 1,600 delegates from more than 70 countries.

Honorary member

National Clinical Otologic Research Team (the CORT), USA · 2006 The Clinical Otologic Research Team (CORT) includes leading otologists in the United States.

Guest of Honor, Workshop on the Present Status and Future Directions of Cochlear Implants, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

International Nano Bioelectronics & Systems Research Center, Seoul National University · 2006

Nalli Family Distinguished Lecture

International The Nalli Family Fund and the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada · 2005

Guest of Honor, Annual Nalli Family Day, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

International Nalli Family Fund · 2005

Guest of Honor, Hearing Preservation Workshop IV, Warsaw-Kajetany, Poland

International The conference organizers · 2005

Guest of Honor, Annual Meeting of the British Cochlear Implant Group: Pushing the Boundaries of Cochlear Implantation, Birmingham, UK

International British Cochlear Implant Group · 2005

Special Guest, Eighth International Cochlear Implant Conference, Indianapolis, IN, USA

International The conference organizers · 2004

Co-Chair, with Chair Peter S. Roland, M.D., of the Third Hearing Preservation Workshop, Dallas, TX, USA

International The conference sponsors · 2004

Guest of Honor, Fifth Wullstein Symposium on Bilateral Cochlear Implants and Binaural Signal Processing, Würzburg, Germany

International The conference organizers · 2004

Designation as a "Friend Forever" to the International Center of Hearing and Speech in Kajetany (near Warsaw), Poland

International The International Center of Hearing and Speech, Kajetany, Poland · 2004

Guest of Honor, Hearing Preservation Workshop II, Frankfurt, Germany

International The conference organizers · 2003

Co-Chair, with Chair Richard T. Miyamoto, M.D., of the Hearing Preservation Workshop, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

International The conference sponsors · 2002

Guest of Honor, Wullstein Symposium 2002 (3rd Conference on Bilateral Cochlear Implantation and Bilateral Signal Processing, 7th International Cochlear Implant Workshop, and 1st Workshop on Binaural Rehabilitation), Würzburg, Germany

International The conference organizers · 2002

Honorary Member of the British Cochlear Implant Group

International British Cochlear Implant Group · 2002

Appointment as one of the first four Senior Fellows for RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

Other RTI International · 2002 RTI International is a large not-for-profit research institute with a staff of more than 2,800 at locations in the United States, Africa, Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and El Salvador; one of the principal charges of the Fellows is to serve as advisors to the RTI President in setting the scientific directions for the organization. The first four Senior Fellows were appointed simultaneously.

Guest of Honor, Wullstein Symposium (2nd Conference on Bilateral Cochlear Implantation and Bilateral Signal Processing, 6th International Cochlear Implant Workshop and 2nd Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI) Workshop), Würzburg, Germany

International The conference organizers · 2001

Guest of Honor, 5th International Cochlear Implant Workshop and 1st Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI) Workshop, Würzburg, Germany

International The conference organizers · 1999

Presidential Citation for “Major contributions to the restoration of hearing in profoundly deaf persons,” on the occasion of the 130th Annual Meeting of the American Otological Society, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

International American Otological Society · 1997 This Citation was to Wilson, Dewey T. Lawson, Charles C. Finley, and Mariangeli Zerbi, who were the principal members of the team at the Research Triangle Institute at the time.