In his spare time, he plays guitar and harmonica with The Transactivators, a rock band inspired by the Texas troubadour, Willie Nelson, who created the Professorship that supports his research. Awards and honors 1998 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1998 Edgar Haber Cardiovascular Medicine Research Award, American Heart Association 1999 American Heart Association Basic Research Prize 1999 Gill Heart Institute Award for Outstanding Contributions to Cardiovascular Medicine 1999 Elected to U.S. National Academy of Sciences 2000 Pasarow Award in Cardiovascular Medicine 2000 NIH MERIT Award 2001 Elected to the Institute of Medicine of National Academy of Sciences 2003 Founding Distinguished Scientist Award, American Heart Association 2003 Louis and Artur Lucian Award for Research in Cardiovascular Diseases, McGill University 2005 Outstanding Investigator Award, International Society for Heart Research (ISHR) 2005 Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research, Columbia University 2008 American Heart Association Research Achievement Award 2009 LeFoulon Delalande Grand Prix Awarded by the Institut de France and French Academy of Science 2012 Passano Award, Passano Foundation 2013 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, March of Dimes 2016 Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award, American Heart Association References External links Olson Lab Website UT Southwestern Medical Center Department of Molecular Biology 1955 births Living people American molecular biologists University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center faculty Wake Forest University alumni People from North Carolina 21st-century American biologists People from Rochester, New York Scientists from New York (state) Members of the National Academy of Medicine