The Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Awards recognize research and teaching excellence in faculty at mid-career. The awards provide flexible research funds over a two- or three-year term. A total of 14 SMPH faculty were selected for Vilas professorships this year, the most in at least a decade.

Nicole C. Nelson, associate professor in the Department of Medical History and Bioethics, is a science and technology studies scholar who studies research cultures, with a focus on reproducibility and rigor in biomedicine. She is the current director of the Holtz Center for STS, a past Editor of Social Studies of Science, and a former fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.