The premature death of Zakir Ramazanov was a tremendous loss for both the scientific community and the nutrition industry. He was a prolific inventive genius who was in his creative prime. He inspired many of us with his fierce dedication to rigorous science. His mind was a cornucopia of insights and discoveries and he had the singular discipline and determination to realize many of them into safe, effective new products that have improved the wellbeing of millions of people, and he was just getting started when death unexpectedly took him.

Following this tragic event, a group of his close friends and colleagues took upon the task to commemorate his life and continue his work by establishing the Ramazanov Award Foundation as a non-profit organization. The idea behind the foundation and the prize itself is to reward a scientist or a group of professionals working in the area of nutrition whose dedication has contributed to significant improvement in the health and wellbeing of people.

While there are other awards with similar criteria exist, they typically give recognition to companies and organizations rather than individuals. Dr. Zakir Ramazanov believed in the power of an individual to change the perception of this industry as based on a “second hand” science, and rightfully so. His life was an example of such effort, and we should continue this honorable duty. Therefore, the purpose of this foundation is to continue Dr. Ramazanov’s mission by encouraging professionals whose work has contributed to improvement of the dietary supplement industry by applying unbiased scientific methodology to nutritional products, thus merging rigorous science and practice.