Blumberg Institute salutes Nobel Prize winners Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman
Doylestown, Pa., Oct. 5, 2023 – The Baruch S. Blumberg Institute applauds Katalin Karikó, PhD, adjunct professor of Neurosurgery at The University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, and Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, the Roberts Family Professor of Vaccine Research in the Perelman School of Medicine for being named winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Katalin Karikó, PhD, and Drew Weissman, MD, PhD (Photo: Penn Medicine)
Randall N. Hyer, MD, PhD, MPH, president of the Blumberg Institute, said: “Congratulations, Dr. Karikó and Dr. Weissman. The Blumberg Institute salutes your pioneering, lifesaving contribution to humanity. We need more people like you!”
Dr. Hyer is former Senior Vice President for global medical affairs at Moderna. He played a key role in the launch of the company's COVID-19 vaccine, which is one of the world's first approved mRNA vaccines. The breakthrough research into mRNA conducted by Dr. Karikó and Dr. Weissman enabled the creation of mRNA-based vaccines.
According to the University of Pennsylvania’s news release, Dr. Karikó and Dr. Weissman engaged in “years of scientific partnership that unlocked understanding of how to modify mRNA to make it an effective therapeutic—enabling a platform used to rapidly develop lifesaving vaccines amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.”
Dr. Weissman delivered one of the Blumberg Institute’s 2023 Distinguished Speaker Seminars on March 24, seen below.
