Harvard Medical School neurobiologist David Ginty has won The Brain Prize 2026 for his career-long research on our sense of touch: how the body perceives different types of sensations in the environment and communicates that information to the brain to shape behavior.
Ginty, the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology and chair of the Department of Neurobiology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, shares the award with molecular neurobiologist Patrik Ernfors at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
Two HMS physician-scientists have received National Scientific and Health Care Achievement Awards from the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The awards honor academics, clinicians, and educators who have contributed to substantial advances in diabetes care and research.
Lloyd Aiello, the HMS Charles Webster Downer Professor of Ophthalmology at Joslin Diabetes Center, received the Outstanding Physician Clinician in Diabetes Award for pioneering research in diabetes-related retinopathy and retinal vascular disease that has transformed standards of care and advanced vision science worldwide.
Mary Loeken, HMS associate professor of medicine at Joslin, received the Norbert Freinkel Award, which honors outstanding scientific achievement in the understanding and treatment of diabetes and pregnancy.
“The ADA is pleased to recognize these individuals and the vital role they play in advancing our mission to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes,” said Charles Henderson, chief executive officer of the ADA.
“Their incredible contributions are moving us closer to a world free of diabetes and all its burdens,” Henderson said.
Aiello and Loeken will be recognized at the ADA’s annual Scientific Sessions in New Orleans in June.
Three faculty members from HMS have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). They are among the nearly 500 scientists, engineers, and innovators to be named 2025 fellows.
Fellowship in the AAAS — one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals — recognizes scientifically and socially distinguished achievements throughout researchers’ careers.
The three new fellows from HMS are:
- Kathleen Burns, HMS professor of pathology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Sandeep Robert Datta, professor of neurobiology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS
- Frank Slack, the HMS Shields Warren-Mallinckrodt Professor of Medical Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Daniel Hochbaum, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, has received a Maximizing Innovation in Neuroscience Discovery (MIND) Award from the Pershing Square Foundation. With these awards, the foundation seeks to create a community of next-frontier thinkers who can uncover a deeper understanding of the brain and cognition to change the paradigm of neuroscience research. The award comes with a $750,000 prize.
“This year’s cohort reflects the promise of technological and biological research serendipity, tying molecular structures with behavioral patterns and genetic predispositions with the power of AI,” said Neri Oxman, trustee of the Pershing Square Foundation.
Hochbaum was recognized for research into how age-related declines in thyroid hormone signaling in the brain may contribute to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. His awarded project will define how inflammation disrupts local production of the active thyroid hormone T3 and test whether restoring brain T3 signaling can rescue synaptic and behavioral deficits in Alzheimer’s models, which could reveal a new endocrine-based strategy to slow neurodegeneration.
Adapted from Pershing Square Foundation materials.
Isaac Chiu, professor of immunology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, and Stephen Liberles, professor of cell biology at HMS, are part of an international team selected to receive an award from Cancer Grand Challenges. The global funding initiative enables efforts to take on some of the most complex problems in cancer research today.
The award, of up to $25 million over approximately five years, will support the team’s work to advance our understanding of the complex, dynamic interactions between the nervous system and cancer.
Susan Redline, the HMS Peter C. Farrell Professor of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has received a Distinguished Leadership Award from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). The AASM Awards recognize outstanding contributions to the field of sleep medicine.
“I am proud to recognize this year’s award recipients for their exceptional contributions to the field of sleep medicine,” said AASM president Anita Shelgikar. “Their work has meaningful impact for patients today and inspires continued progress in sleep and circadian health for the future.”
Redline was recognized for her research into sociodemographic, environmental, and genetic risk factors for sleep apnea and the impact of sleep interventions on health. The AASM also applauded Redline for founding and co-directing the National Sleep Research Resource in an effort to advance sleep data sharing.
Catherine Wu, HMS professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was named one of the TIME100 Most Influential People in Health of 2026 by TIME magazine. TIME’s health reporters and editors consulted experts to assemble their list of the 100 people they view as most influential in the world of health and health care right now.
Wu was chosen for her work developing some of the first personalized cancer vaccines: experimental therapies that train a person’s immune system to recognize and attack specific mutations — known as neoantigens — that are unique to those individuals’ tumors. Wu and her lab designed an algorithm that uses genetic sequencing to identify the neoantigens in individual tumors that would elicit a strong immune response. The team then crafts vaccines targeting them.
These vaccines have been tested in early-stage clinical trials of patients with different types of cancer, including melanoma, glioblastoma, and kidney cancer. Results suggest they could be effective at preventing cancer recurrence in some patients.
“Our mission is to be a frontrunner in testing new directions and technologies,” Wu said.
Matthew Noe, lead collection and knowledge management librarian at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine at HMS, has received the 2026 Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award from the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association (ALA). The award recognizes an individual who has made a distinguished contribution to reference librarianship.
Noe was chosen for his efforts to establish graphic medicine as a recognized academic field. Noe grew Countway’s graphic medicine collection from a single title to over 1,300, pairing active curation with sustained outreach to faculty, students, and curriculum creators. He also spearheaded programming initiatives including the Short Story Dispenser, Countway Reads, and loanable wellness resources that have repositioned the library as a site of holistic community engagement.
Noe was also praised for his service as past president of the ALA Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table and founding treasurer of the Graphic Medicine International Collective. His Carnegie-Whitney Grant-funded Essential Graphic Medicine Annotated Bibliography, peer-reviewed publications, and book chapters in foundational health sciences library texts have established lasting scholarly infrastructure for a field he helped create, RUSA said.
Six HMS faculty members have been named among the top 250 living innovators by Forbes. The list — chosen by Forbes editors with input from their reporters, a panel of judges, and artificial intelligence — spotlights business leaders bringing breakthroughs to market, transforming entire industries, and creating new industries.
The Forbes innovators from HMS are:
- Lewis Cantley, HMS professor of cell biology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was recognized for his efforts to fight cancer by “starving” tumors.
- George Church, the Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, was cited for his pioneering biotechnology and cofounding of more than 50 companies spanning gene therapy to de-extinction.
- William Kaelin, the HMS Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber, was chosen for discovering how cancer cells “breathe”— and how to choke them.
- Robert Langer, HMS senior lecturer on surgery, part-time, at Boston Children’s Hospital, was recognized for cofounding more than 40 biotech companies, including Moderna.
- Timothy Springer, the HMS Latham Family Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Boston Children’s, was recognized for his discovery of immune “keys” to fight disease and for cofounding Moderna.
- David Walt, the HMS Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering and professor of pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was cited for building the scientific foundation of DNA sequencing giant Illumina.
