Gordon Freeman, Harvard Medical School professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Arlene Sharpe, the Kolokotrones University Professor and chair of the Department of Immunology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, have been named to receive the 2024 David and Beatrix Hamburg Award for Advances in Biomedical Research and Clinical Medicine by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).
The Hamburg Award recognizes an exceptional biomedical research discovery, translation, or public health intervention that has fundamentally enriched our understanding of biology and disease, leading to a significant improvement in human health and social well-being and reduction in global health inequities. The award comes with a $50,000 prize.
Sharpe and Freeman were chosen for their breakthrough work identifying costimulatory pathways that control the activation and inhibition of T-cell immune responses. The discoveries helped reveal fundamental principles of immunology and led to new, effective immunotherapies for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and transplant rejection. The FDA has so far approved drugs for over 21 tumor types based on this work, including lung cancer and melanoma.
“Congratulations to Drs. Freeman and Sharpe, whose work is a remarkable example of bench-to-bedside contributions in medicine and reflects how basic research can lead to life-changing results for patients,” said Victor Dzau, president of the NAM. “The value of their discoveries simply cannot be overstated.”
Freeman and Sharpe will receive the award at the NAM’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., in October.
Created in 2021, this award is named for David Hamburg, president of the Institute of Medicine from 1975-1980, and Beatrix Hamburg, a member of the NAM and expert in child and adolescent behavioral health. The award is funded by an endowment established in 2004 in honor of the Hamburgs’ life and legacy. Recipients are selected by a committee of experts convened by the NAM.
