On June 27, 2021, Dr. Michael Shy was awarded the prestigious Alan J. Gebhart Prize for Excellence in Peripheral Nerve Research during the awards ceremony at the International Peripheral Nerve Society Annual Meeting. This award recognizes an Active PNS Member’s ongoing contributions to their mission of “improving the lives of people with peripheral neuropathies throughout the world”. It is awarded to an established researcher who is considered to have scientifically advanced the field of peripheral nerve (basic or clinical) over their career. The award is accompanied by a significant cash prize.

Upon receiving the award, Dr. Shy mentioned, "receiving this award was only made possible because of the work of our multidisciplinary team in the CMT program at Iowa over the past 10 years, so this award not only honors me but the team as well, bringing additional respect to the Neuromuscular Division and Department of Neurology at Iowa."