Professor Rita Levi-Montalcini became a constant inspiration for young people who gathered in large numbers to hear her words and meet her during her later years. During public appearances, her presence radiated wisdom and encouragement, especially to the next generation of scientists and leaders. The Fondazione Levi-Montalcini has provided more than 500 fellowships since its establishment to support students from primary education through postdoctoral research. The foundation maintains Rita’s fundamental principle that education serves as the most powerful force for development especially when it supports women and girls through specific empowerment initiatives.

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Marina Bentivoglio introduced information about Professor Levi-Montalcini's present-day accomplishments after Swanson finished speaking. At the time of the award Rita was 100 years and five months and six days old and served as an elected senator in the Italian Parliament since 2001. The civil rights work she performed in the Senate showed her dedication to progress which she maintained throughout her life.

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The Cajal Club presented a medal and certificate which honored Rita Levi-Montalcini with the Wendell Krieg Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize her neuroscience work and enduring nervous system research that follows the tradition of Santiago Ramón y Cajal. The medal featuring Ramón y Cajal's image together with Professor Levi-Montalcini's name and award information connects two different periods of visionary neuroscience.

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Professor Levi-Montalcini deeply thanked everyone in her acceptance speech. This award stood out to her as a meaningful recognition because it motivated her to continue her work despite the difficulties she faced. She concluded her speech by discussing the essential relationship between scientific knowledge and imagination which drives scientific advancement forward. Levi-Montalcini observed that youth exhibit unlimited learning abilities but noted imagination survives as the essential capacity needed for discovery pursuits. She described the potential of the work of newly minted scientists as "a fantastic form of human capital" which represents a reservoir of potential that can be shaped into a better future through mentorship and support.

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A symposium accompanied the award to Levi-Montalcini, and speakers contributed papers to a special issue of Brain Research Reviews (Volume 66, pp. 1-269, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresrev.2010.12.001) entitled Camilo Golgi and modern neuroscience, edited by Bentivoglio, M., Jones, E.G., Mazzarello, P., Ribak, C.E., Shepherd, G.M., and Swanson, L.W. 

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Written by Dawn Hunter, “The Golgi Apparatus” of the Cajal Club