2026 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine recognizes pioneering work in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment

CLEVELAND, March 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The thirteenth annual Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine has been jointly awarded to Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and S.P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School, and Charles L. Sawyers, MD, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Chair in Human Oncology and Pathogenesis at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The award recognizes their transformative discoveries that defined the molecular drivers of prostate cancer and pioneered precision therapies that have reshaped the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer worldwide.

The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, established in 2014 by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), honors physician-scientists who have moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity, and potential for clinical application.

Drs. Chinnaiyan and Sawyers have together identified genetic changes that drive prostate cancer and pioneered breakthrough precision therapies. Dr. Chinnaiyan identified an abnormal gene fusion, TMPRSS2-ERG, that is the most common genetic driver of prostate cancer and is a foundational biomarker for prostate cancer diagnostics. Dr. Sawyers developed advanced androgen receptor inhibitors, enzalutamide and apalutamide, FDA-approved in 2012 and 2018, respectively. These drugs are a mainstay of prostate cancer treatment. (Earlier work by Dr. Sawyers brought to clinical practice the drug imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that revolutionized treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia.)

Drs. Chinnaiyan and Sawyers also co-led a team that discovered high rates of mutations in advanced prostate cancers that make them susceptible to a class of drugs called PARP inhibitors, such as olaparib. Today these drugs are a standard treatment for prostate cancer.

Together, Drs. Chinnaiyan and Sawyers have developed the contemporary framework for diagnosis and treatment of advanced prostate cancer and a basis for next generation therapies. The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine recognizes their impact in improving outcomes in this deadly disease.

"The Harrington Prize recognizes scientific breakthroughs that change the course of medicine, and the work of Drs. Chinnaiyan and Sawyers exemplifies this mission. Their ground-breaking discoveries in cancer genomics and precision oncology demonstrate the extraordinary impact of scientific curiosity paired with clinical purpose," said Priscilla Hsue, MD, Chizuko and Nobuyuki Kawata Chair, Chief of Cardiology, UCLA, Professor of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, and 2025-2026 ASCI President.

"Drs. Chinnaiyan and Sawyers embody the very best of physician‑scientist innovation. Their contributions underscore the power of advancing bold scientific ideas all the way to patient care, and they inspire a generation of innovators committed to turning discovery into cures," said Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, President and Co-Founder, Harrington Discovery Institute, Distinguished University Professor, Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Chair of Cardiovascular Innovation, and Professor of Medicine and of Biochemistry at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University.

A committee composed of members of the ASCI Council and the Harrington Discovery Institute Scientific Advisory Board reviewed nominations from leading academic medical centers from seven countries before selecting the 2026 Harrington Prize recipient.  

In addition to receiving the Prize's $20,000 honorarium, co-recipients Dr. Chinnaiyan and Dr. Sawyers will deliver the Harrington Prize Lecture at the 2026 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting on April 17, and they will be featured speakers at the 2026 Harrington Scientific Symposium on May 20. They are invited to publish an essay in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. 

The Harrington Prize has recognized outstanding and diverse innovations in medicine since 2014:

• 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: Warren J. Leonard, MD, and John J. O'Shea, MD, NIH, for their respective contributions to the field of immunology, from fundamental discovery to therapeutic impact.
• 2022: James E. Crowe Jr., MD, Vanderbilt University, and Michel C. Nussenzweig, MD, PhD, The Rockefeller University, for their groundbreaking work, which has elucidated fundamental principles of the human immune response and enabled the use of human antibodies to treat COVID-19.
• 2023: Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, and Albert M. Maguire, MD, University of Pennsylvania, for their groundbreaking translational research to restore sight in inherited genetic diseases.
• 2024: Arlene H. Sharpe, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School, for her breakthrough discoveries in immune regulation, which have led to new cancer therapies that act by boosting the immune response to cancer.
• 2025: Owen N. Witte, MD, University of California, Los Angeles, for his foundational discoveries of targeted therapies that have transformed modern cancer treatment. 

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SOURCE Harrington Discovery Institute