Honors & Awards

Congratulations to Ken Cadwell and Jorge Henao-Mejia, 2025–26 Penn Fellows

Congratulations to Ken Cadwell, PhD, the T. Grier Miller Professor of Medicine, and Jorge Henao-Mejia, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, on their selection as 2025–26 Penn Fellows.

The Penn Fellows Program, established in 2009,...

2025 Recipient of the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine

What began as an outside-the-box idea in the 1990s has become one of the most important advances in modern oncology.

Dr. Carl June's pioneering work on CAR T-cell therapy is transforming cancer treatment – offering long-lasting remission and new...

Lupus Research Alliance Career Development Award!

Exciting news! The Lupus Research Alliance announced the recipients of the 2025 Empowering Lupus Research Career Development Award and Postdoctoral Award.

The awards support exceptional early-career scientists to advance groundbreaking research that can improve outcomes for people living with lupus...

ASH 2025 Awardees: Hematologists to be Honored with Highest Distinctions

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) announced that it will recognize 11 hematologists who have made notable contributions to the field at the 2025 ASH Annual Meeting in December. Nancy A. Speck, PhD, the John W. Eckman Professor in...

Welcome Dr. Ken Cadwell, the new Center Director of the UPenn Digestive and Liver Center

The new Director of the UPenn Digestive and Liver Center has expressed gratitude for the opportunity to lead such a distinguished community and acknowledged Dr. Gary Wu for his impactful leadership. Dr. Wu will continue to support the Center as...

Dr. Joe Zackular recipient of the 2025 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (Paths) Award

Dr. Joseph Zackular, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP, who has been selected as a recipient of the highly competitive 2025 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in the Pathogenesis...

Four from Penn elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Please join us in congratulating John Wherry, PhD who has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors a scientist can receive.

John has been recognized for his pioneering work in immunology and T cell...

American Association for Cancer Research Honors Oncology Leaders

Distinguished cancer researchers Garrett M. Brodeur, MD, Susan Domchek, MD, Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD, and Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center have been elected to the 2025...

Grant Awarded to Advance Gastroesophageal Cancer Treatment

The DeGregorio Family Foundation, with additional support from the Torrey Coast Foundation Gastro Esophageal Investigator Network Initiative, awarded Saar Gill, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Hematology-Oncology, a $450,000 grant to continue work on his “Trojan horse” immunotherapy targeting...

Sloan Research Fellows

Jason Altschuler (counter-clockwise from top left) and Anderson Ye Zhang of the Wharton School, Liang Wu of the School of Arts & Sciences, and César de la Fuente of the Perelman School of Medicine and School of Engineering and Applied...

Five of the Most Important Medical Breakthroughs of 2024

Penn Medicine researchers contributed to two studies that made Forbes contributor Juergen Eckhardt’s list of the five most important medical breakthroughs of 2024: CAR T cell therapy for glioblastoma—for which Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in...

Douglas B. Cines Honored with Henry M. Stratton Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Hematology

Congratulations to Douglas Cines, MD, on receiving the 2024 Henry M. Stratton Medal for basic science from the American Society of Hematology (ASH). honoring Cines' 40+ years of discoveries that have led to significant improvements in the treatment of #thrombocytopenic disorders.

Carl June Awarded the Abarca Prize for CAR T Cell Therapy Research

CAR T cell therapy pioneer Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, was presented with the IV Edition of the Abarca Prize by the HM Hospitals Research Foundation, during a gala in Madrid, Spain on Tuesday....

Grant Awarded for Maximizing CAR T in Ovarian Cancer Treatment

Daniel J. Powell Jr., MD, of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Michael Farwell, MD, of Radiology, received UG3/UH3 grant funding of more than $6 million to develop a platform that would allow controlled delivery of immunomodulatory agents to...

Penn Medicine Pair Honored by American Society for Microbiology

Two Penn Medicine researchers received awards from the American Society for Microbiology for 2025. Susan Weiss, PhD, of Microbiology, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society for Microbiology for dedicating more than 40 years of research to...

Of Medicine and Miracles

The award-winning documentary, "Of Medicine and Miracles," features Penn Medicine’s CAR T-cell therapy pioneers Carl June, MD, Bruce Levine, PhD, and David Porter, MD. It chronicles the team's monumental quest to cure cancer through the lens of...

Citizen of the Year Awards: Dr. David C. Fajgenbaum

This Penn Medicine physician turned his five near-death experiences into a mission to save the lives of people suffering from humanity’s 12,000 known diseases. Is it any wonder, then, that David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, is our Citizen of the Year?

Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research 2024

Ten scholars, including E. John Wherry, PhD, have been named to the 2021 class of American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows. For unparalleled research discoveries that have defined the genetic and epigenetic control mechanisms governing T-cell exhaustion,...

Heritage Lecture Awardee

The Heritage lecture is given annually by an outstanding scientist who trained in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (as a student or postdoc) and who has moved on to a highly successful career elsewhere. The intention of this lectureship...

Borrelli Family Lynch Syndrome Pilot Awardee 2024

Alex Huang, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, has been awarded a pilot grant for his project titled: “Neoantigen-specific memory T-cell responses in Lynch syndrome carriers.”