Nominations open for 9th annual Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine

Harrington Discovery Institute and the ASCI collaborate to recognize an outstanding achievement of a physician-scientist globally

National and international nominations are being sought for the 2022 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, which honors a physician-scientist who has moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity and the potential for clinical application. 

The Harrington Prize, which carries a $20,000 honorarium, is a collaboration between the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio—part of The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development—and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), one of the nation’s oldest and most respected medical honor societies. The Harrington Discovery Institute is a nonprofit institute dedicated to helping physicians and scientists advance promising discoveries into medicines for unmet needs.

Both organizations recognize the challenges associated with translating discoveries into medicines, and they are eager to highlight those who have navigated the path successfully or whose work has led to novel treatments.

A committee composed of members of the Harrington Discovery Institute Scientific Advisory Board and the ASCI Council will review the nominations and select the awardee. In addition to the honorarium, the 2022 recipient will deliver the Harrington Prize Lecture at the 2022 Joint Meeting of the Association of American Physicians (AAP), the ASCI, and the American Physician Scientists Association (APSA); will lecture at the 2022 Harrington Discovery Institute Symposium; and will publish a personal essay in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Submitting a Nomination:

• The deadline for nominations is September 29, 2021 (extended from September 20).
• Multiple nominations from an institution are welcomed.
• Teams are accepted for a nomination, but a primary nominee is required.
• Nomination guidelines can be found at HarringtonDiscovery.org/ThePrize.

Previous Harrington Prize recipients:

• 2014: Harry Dietz, MD, Johns Hopkins University, for his contributions to the understanding of the biology and treatment of Marfan syndrome, a disorder leading to deadly aneurysms in children and adults.
• 2015: Douglas R. Lowy, MD, The National Cancer Institute, in recognition of his discoveries that led to the development of the Human Papillomavirus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.
• 2016: Jeffrey M. Friedman, MD, PhD, The Rockefeller University, for his discovery of leptin, which controls feeding behavior and is used to treat related clinical disorders.
• 2017: Jointly awarded to Daniel J. Drucker, MD, Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada, Joel F. Habener, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Jens J. Holst, MD, DMSc, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, for their discovery of incretin hormones and for the translation of these findings into transformative therapies for major metabolic diseases such as diabetes.
• 2018: Helen H. Hobbs, MD, UT Southwestern Medical Center, for the discovery of the link between a gene mutation (PCSK9) and lower levels of LDL, which has improved the treatment of high cholesterol.
• 2019: Carl H. June, MD, University of Pennsylvania, for advancing the clinical application of CAR T therapy for cancer treatment, and for his sustained contributions to the field of cellular immunology.
• 2020: Stuart H. Orkin, MD, Harvard University, for breakthrough discoveries on red blood cells that offer new treatments for patients with sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia, which are among the most common genetic disorders.
• 2021: Jointly awarded to Warren J. Leonard, MD, NHLBI and John J. O’Shea, MD,  NIAMS, NIH, for their respective contributions to the field of immunology, from fundamental discovery to therapeutic impact.

For questions or more information about the nomination requirements, visit HarringtonDiscovery.org/ThePrize or contact Bronwyn Monroe, Harrington Discovery Institute Program Director, at Bronwyn.Monroe@HarringtonDiscovery.org.