Post by Harvard Medical School

The 2026 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize has been awarded to five scientists for their work leading to curative genetic therapies for two major blood disorders: sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. These diseases affect millions of people around the world. The awardees are: ▶︎ Swee Lay Thein, senior investigator and chief of the Sickle Cell Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health ▶︎ Stuart Orkin, the Harvard Medical School David G. Nathan Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) ▶︎ Vijay Sankaran, the HMS Jan Ellen Paradise, MD Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s and Dana-Farber and an investigator at HHMI ▶︎ Daniel Bauer, the HMS Donald S. Fredrickson, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s and Dana-Farber ▶︎ John Tisdale, senior investigator and chief of the Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the NIH “The exceptional work these recipients have done to unravel the molecular mechanisms of hemoglobin disorders and improve stem cell transplantation has catalyzed the development of therapeutics that have the potential to improve the lives of millions of people,” said HMS Dean George Q. Daley. “Their combined efforts, driven by both clinical savvy and scientific curiosity, mark the dawn of a new era of gene editing in medicine.”