Fauci, Rosenberg Win Dan David Prize
NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci and NCI Surgery Branch chief Dr. Steven Rosenberg have received the Dan David Prize for 2021, an international award endowed by the Dan David Foundation and headquartered at Tel Aviv University.
The awards are given in three categories—Past, Present and Future—“for achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on our world.”
Fauci received the Present award, which “recognizes achievements that shape and enrich society today,” for his exceptional contributions to HIV research, being the architect of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, heading NIAID, fighting for the recognition of novel approaches such as mRNA vaccines and “courageously defending science in the face of uninformed opposition during the challenging Covid-19 crisis.”
Rosenberg won the Future award, which “focuses on breakthroughs that hold great promise for improvement of our world,” for his landmark discoveries leading to the first cancer immunotherapies, ongoing efforts to develop immunotherapy for solid tumors, and “the combination of insight, care and fearlessness that enabled his translation of basic science to medical practice.”
He shares the award with Prof. Zelig Eshhar, an Israeli immunologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Dr. Carl June, an immunologist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
“The Dan David Prize recognizes and encourages innovative and interdisciplinary research that cuts across traditional boundaries and paradigms,” according to the prize’s website. “It aims to foster universal values of excellence, creativity, justice, democracy and progress and to promote the scientific, technological and humanistic achievements that advance and improve our world.”