Leading at the Forefront of Medical Research
Through biomedical research and innovation, the FNIH supports delivery of historic medical breakthroughs.
Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences
Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences is an annual prize made possible by a generous gift from philanthropist Ann Lurie, recognizing outstanding achievements made by a promising young scientist. In 2020, the FNIH honored Aviv Regev, Ph.D., for her groundbreaking work developing the field of single-cell genomics. At that time, Dr. Regev was Core Member, Chair of the Faculty and Director of the Klarman Cell Observatory at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Dr. Regev’s work spearheading new technologies that enable a sharper perspective on human cells has led to key insights about how cells function and has revolutionized our understanding of biology and diseases, including cancer and autoimmune disorders.
Dr. Regev is a co-founder and co-leader of the Human Cell Atlas, an international community of more than 1,800 scientists working to create comprehensive reference maps of all human cells. She is currently Executive Vice President of Genentech Research and Early Development.
Trailblazer Prize for Clinician-Scientists
The Trailblazer Prize was established in 2018 to highlight the essential role of early career clinician-scientists in spurring innovation in patient care.
In 2020, Michael Wilson, M.D., Associate Professor of Neurology in the Division of Neuroimmunology and Glial Biology at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, was awarded the prize for pioneering a next-generation diagnostic approach to pinpoint infectious causes of inflammatory conditions of the central nervous system.
Dr. Wilson’s innovative technique of metagenomic next-generation sequencing allows precise identification of the specific infectious agents causing inflammation in a patient, while ruling out irrelevant pathogens that might otherwise have been suspected. Using this approach, Dr. Wilson has unearthed key knowledge about the infectious and autoimmune causes of inflammatory conditions in the brain, spinal cord and meninges, including major discoveries such as co-identifying the family of viruses behind acute flaccid myelitis, a paralyzing, polio-like condition affecting children.
Funding for the Trailblazer Prize is provided by the Gallin Fund at the FNIH.
Charles A. Sanders, M.D., Partnership Award
Each year, the FNIH bestows the Charles A. Sanders, M.D., Partnership Award to recognize people and/or organizations that have made significant contributions to the organization’s efforts to build, implement and nurture public-private partnerships in support of the mission of the NIH.
In 2020, the FNIH honored Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., long-time Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), for his legacy of leadership and ongoing support of FNIH programs propelling research in lethal infectious diseases, most recently for COVID-19.
As NIAID Director since 1984, Dr. Fauci has been at the forefront of the scientific response to prevent, diagnose and treat the world’s most vexing infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, Zika, Ebola and many others. Over the course of his extensive career, Dr. Fauci has overseen a wide variety of research collaborations between NIAID and the FNIH, including work in Africa on HIV/AIDS, as well as tuberculosis vaccines, treatments and bioinformatics. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the FNIH-coordinated Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) initiative, a public-private partnership to expedite development of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.
Funding for the Charles A. Sanders, M.D., Partnership Award is provided by the Charles A. Sanders Legacy Fund at the FNIH.
As NIAID Director since 1984, Dr. Fauci has been at the forefront of the scientific response to prevent, diagnose and treat the world’s most vexing infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, Zika, Ebola and COVID-19.
