Jerry Mendell Award for Translational Science

About the Award

This award, supported by Dr. Suku and Ann Nagendran, recognizes the extensive work required to bring gene and cell therapies to clinical trial. The award is named for Jerry Mendell, MD, the first person to study viral mediated gene therapy for muscular dystrophy in humans. Mendell was also the principal investigator in the study of the gene transfer clinical trial for spinal muscular atrophy type 1, which led to the FDA approval of onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi‎ (Zolgensma) in the United States in 2019.

Nomination Criteria

To be eligible for this award, a nominee must be:

• An ASGCT member in good standing

• Involved in the development, delivery, and follow-up of a clinical stage gene and/or cell therapy

• Nominated by at least two ASGCT Members in good standing. Nomination letters must be 500 words or fewer and can be signed by two people.

• Available to give a presentation of their work at the ASGCT Annual Meeting

The nominee should be involved in the pre-clinical development and discovery of the work(s) that goes beyond delivery of the final product. Participation only in clinical trials will not suffice for this award. The recipient should be known for expertise in the clinical area of translational research.

The recipient of the award will be announced in advance of the Annual Meeting and invited to deliver a lecture. The recipient will receive an honorarium of $2,000 and travel reimbursement.

Nominate yourself or a colleague through September 16! Send nominations letters to awards@asgct.org.

Recipients

2025
Harry L. Malech, MD

2024
John Tisdale, MD, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

2023
Mark Dudley, PhD, Instil Bio
Bruce Levine, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Isabelle Rivière, PhD, Takeda

2022
Kathy High, MD, AskBio

2021
Jerry Mendell, MD, Nationwide Children's Hospital