The Lee Segel Prizes were established in memory of Lee Segel, who made great contributions to the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology and the field of mathematical biology as a whole. The prizes honor outstanding contributions to the field of mathematical biology and will help to promote and advance important research findings in this scientific area. There is a Best Paper Prize, as well as a Best Student Paper Prize. Other prizes may be awarded as deemed appropriate by the Awards Committee, Editors-in-Chief of the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, and the Society for Mathematical Biology.

The Lee Segel Prizes are awarded every two years, starting in 2009. Papers are selected taking into account the advice of referees and referee reports. For a paper to qualify as a Best Student Paper, the main author of the paper must have been a student at the time that the work was carried out.

The Best Paper Award consists of $1500 USD and an invitation for one of the authors to present the paper at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Mathematical Biology (preferably in the year that the award is given out). The Best Student Paper Award consists of $1000 USD and an invitation for one of the authors to present the paper at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Mathematical Biology.