Prize Recipients

Vishva M. Dixit receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for his groundbreaking discoveries on the mechanism of apoptosis - a biochemical process of programmed cell death.

Katalin Karikó receives the Vilcek Prize for Excellence in Biotechnology for her pioneering research leadership into the development of mRNA therapeutics, which led to the development of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19.

Alexander Rudensky receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for fundamental molecular insights on the workings of a type of immune cell with a breathtaking array of functions—in autoimmune disease, inflammatory disorders, and cancer.

Michaela Gack receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for uncovering molecular mechanisms by which the human immune system triggers antiviral defenses, and for identifying potential vaccine and drug targets for emerging infectious diseases.

Dan R. Littman receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for a wealth of insights on HIV pathogenesis, the specificity of the human immune response, and the interplay of the immune system with the human microbiome.

Pardis Sabeti receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for developing cutting-edge genome sequencing and bioinformatics tools to trace the origin and spread of deadly infectious diseases, including Ebola and Lassa fever, among others.

Richard Flavell receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for his paradigm-shifting efforts to use an approach called reverse genetics to probe the molecular basis of immunity, yielding rich insights into innate and adaptive immunity, autoimmunity, and immune system-microbiome interactions.

Ruslan Medzhitov receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for pathbreaking work in discovering how immune system proteins called Toll-like receptors shape adaptive immunity, with wide-ranging implications for the fundamental understanding and treatment of inflammation, allergies, and cancer.

Elina Zuniga is an honoree for the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science.