Sara Cherry, PhD, Katalin Karikó, PhD, Mingyao Li, PhD, Hongjun Song, PhD, and E. John Wherry, PhD
PHILADELPHIA— Five faculty from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are among 10 Penn scholars named to the 2021 class of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellows. They are among a group of 564 scientists, engineers, and innovators recognized by the organization for their “scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.”
AAAS is the world’s largest scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. AAAS Fellows are nominated and elected by current AAAS members in a tradition that stretches back to 1874.
The Perelman School of Medicine’s 2021 AAAS Fellows are:
Sara Cherry, PhD, is a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. She is being recognized for her distinguished contributions to the field of virology and the development of novel technologies used to identify new pathways in and treatment of virus-induced diseases. Recently, Cherry has expanded her studies to include the screening of thousands of compounds to combat SARS-CoV-2. Her lab has discovered many new potential treatments to prevent or reduce symptoms of the virus.
Katalin Karikó, PhD, an adjunct professor of Neurosurgery and a senior vice president at BioNTech, is being honored for her prescient foundational and pioneering mRNA-vaccine research conducted with Drew Weissman, the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research. Their technology was used by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna for their creation of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, and the vaccine platform she helped establish creates gigantic potential for vaccines, infectious-diseases prevention, and immunotherapy. Karikó is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Lasker-Debakey Clinical Medical Research Award.
Mingyao Li, PhD, is a professor of Biostatistics. Li is being recognized for her distinguished contributions to statistical genetics and genomics methodology, particularly using single cell genomics to study genetics of cardiovascular disease and age-related macular degeneration. She is chair of Penn’s Biostatistics Graduate Program and director of Biostatistics for the university’s Gene Therapy Program. Li also serves as associate editor of Annals of Applied Statistics, Statistics in Biosciences, PLOS Genetics, and PLOS Computational Biology.
Hongjun Song, PhD, is the Perelman Professor of Neuroscience, co-director of the IRM Neurodevelopment & Regeneration Program, and director of the Epigenetics Institute Neuroepigenetics Interest Group. His research focuses on neurodevelopment, neural plasticity, and brain disorders. He also studies how epigenetic and epitranscriptomic mechanisms impact neurodevelopment and brain plasticity. His insights are paving the way to new and better treatments for mental illness and neurological disease.
E. John Wherry, PhD, the director of the Penn Institute for Immunology and chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, is an international leader in the study of T cell exhaustion, which prevents optimal control of infections and can hamper anti-tumor immune responses. Most recently, his efforts have also focused on dissecting the immunology of COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Wherry has received numerous distinctions for his consistent and significant contributions to infectious disease and cancer immunology research. His work has advanced our understanding of the immune system, and his research has led to strategies to improve the effectiveness of T cell targeting immunotherapies.
The full list of the University of Pennsylvania’s 2021 AAAS Fellows can be found here.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.