Professor Marvalee Wake was presented with the Inaugural International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) Award "in recognition of her dedicated and meritorious contribution to the IUBS and to Biological Sciences" at the 31st General Assembly of the International Union of Biological Sciences, held in Suzhou, China in early July, 2012. Professor Wake began her association with IUBS as a member, and then Chair, of the US National Committee of IUBS. She was elected Secretary-General of IUBS, located in Paris, in 1994 and served until 2000, when she was elected President, serving from 2000 to 2004. She was Past-President from 2004 to 2007, and has remained active in the organization. During her Presidency she inaugurated the scientific program "Towards an Integrative Biology", and she has been an articulate international spokesperson for development of integrative biology. She was the founding Chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California at Berkeley, starting in 1990.