The Carol Nachman Prize serves to promote clinical, therapeutic and experimental research work in the field of rheumatology and was founded in 1972 by the honorary citizen of Wiesbaden, Carol Nachman. It is one of the most highly endowed medical awards in Germany. Endowed with DM 50,000 in the first decade, the prize was increased to DM 75,000 in 1981, or € 37,500 today.

The list of award winners includes outstanding scientists such as Prof. Dr. Eng M. Tan, USA (1989), nestor of autoimmunity, the definition of autoantibodies in rheumatic diseases, or Prof. Dr. R. N. Maini and Prof. Dr. Marc Feldman, England (1999), who developed a new therapeutic principle, the blockade of the tumor necrosis factor alpha, for rheumatological diseases. In 2006, Prof. Dr. Charles Dinarello received the prize for the discovery of cytokines, messenger substances that mediate between cells of the immune system. In 2014, the prize went to Professor Kollias, Director of the Division of Immunology at the Biomedical Science Research Center "Alexander Fleming" in Athens. The 2015 Carol Nachman Prize was awarded to the Japanese researcher Prof. Kazuhiko Yamamoto, M.D., Ph.D. (Tokyo) and Prof. Georg Schett from Erlangen. During the symposium associated with the award ceremony, the Carol Nachman Medal for special services to rheumatology has also been awarded at irregular intervals since 1987.