This travel award is named in honor of the late Bill Halpern, who was one of the Microcirculatory Society’s most innovative and pioneering scientists. Bill combined his talents as an electrical engineer with his passion for physiological systems in pursuing further improvements in laboratory instrumentation. He recognized early on the unique challenges of studying the microvasculature, but he constantly strived to develop tools to allow the resistance arteries to be studied in vitro in a setting that closely mimics physiology. Along with collaborator Michael Mulvaney, Bill developed the first myograph capable of measuring contractility in isolated microvessels (Halpern and Mulvany, Nature, 1976). Later, Bill developed the now ubiquitous pressure arteriograph in order to study microvascular function in intact pressurized arteries. After retiring from his academic position as a Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Vermont in 1990, Bill founded the company Living Systems Instrumentation in order to provide his pressure arteriograph and associated instruments to a broader base of scientists. Today, Living Systems Instrumentation continues to provide quality research tools geared to microcirculatory studies, and we are proud to maintain Bill’s motto of “Innovations for Vascular Research.”

Winners will be selected by the awards committee prior to the annual MCS meeting at Vascular Biology. The applicant for the Zweifach Student Travel Award who receives the highest ranking by the awards committee will be selected as the awardee. The winner must be a member of the society in good standing at the time of the award, and they must be present at the Annual MCS Business Meeting to accept the award. Previous recipients are not eligible to receive the award in consecutive years.

Bill Halpern