Harrington Discovery Institute Announces 2024 Scholar-Innovator Award Recipients

10 physician-scientists have been selected for drug development grant to advance discoveries into the clinic

CLEVELAND, April 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, today announced the 2024 class of Harrington Scholar-Innovators. The scholar awards will support breakthrough new treatments for heart disease, autoimmune disorders, cancer, infectious disease, inflammation, and rare diseases using small molecule, nucleic acid, vaccine, biologic, and gene therapies.

Harrington Discovery Institute was established in 2012 to accelerate the development of new treatments to address major unmet needs in medicine and society. Since its founding, Harrington has supported 188 drugs-in-the-making, 66 institutions, 39 company launches, 21 clinical candidates, and 15 licenses to pharma.

“Harrington Scholar-Innovators are accomplished physician-scientists whose research demonstrates innovation, creativity and the potential for clinical impact. In surrounding each scholar with an experienced pharma and business development team, we are maximizing the therapeutic potential of great science,” said Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, President, Harrington Discovery Institute, Distinguished University Professor and Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Professor of Cardiovascular Innovation at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University.

“This extraordinary group of physician-scientists constitutes Harrington’s twelfth class of Scholar-Innovators. We are excited to help them advance their discoveries towards patients in need,” said Seth Field, MD, PhD, Director, Physician-Scientist Programs and Investigator, Harrington Discovery Institute and Becky Hennessy Endowed Master Clinician in Breast Cancer Genomics.

In addition to grant funding, Harrington provides guidance and oversight in drug and business development. Harrington Scholar-Innovators also have the opportunity to compete for acceleration funds up to $300,000 and to qualify for mission-related investment funds typically up to $2MM. Scholars have facilitated access to Harrington’s mission-aligned commercial entities including the Advent-Harrington Impact Fund, and to its charitable partner Morgan Stanley GIFT Cures.

The 2024 Harrington Scholar-Innovator Award recipients, their organizations and fields of research are:  

Demetrios Braddock, MD, PhD – Yale University
DNA-Degrading Enzyme for the Treatment of Lupus

Christopher Holley, MD, PhD – Duke University 
Non-Coding RNA to Treat Atherosclerosis

Andrew Hsieh, MD – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 
Targeting mRNA Translation in Cancer

Deepak Nijhawan, MD, PhD – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center  
Oral Treatment of Glioblastoma

Russell Pachynski, MD – Washington University in St. Louis 
Tumor-Targeted Therapeutic that Recruits Immune Cells

David Raleigh, MD, PhD – University of California, San Francisco  
An Antibody Inhibiting NOTCH3+ Stem Cells in Meningioma

Julie Saba, MD, PhD – University of California, San Francisco
Gene Therapy for Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Lyase Insufficiency Syndrome (SPLIS) 

Carlos Subauste, MD – Case Western Reserve University  
Small Molecule Inhibitors of CD40 for the Treatment of Inflammatory Disorders

Jordan Winter, MD – University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center 
Targeting Wild-Type IDH1 in Pancreatic Cancer 

Juliane Bubeck Wardenburg, MD, PhD – Washington University in St. Louis  
Staphylococcus Aureus Vaccine to Provide Infant Protection 

Harrington Discovery Institute is now accepting Letters of Intent for the 2025 Harrington Scholar-Innovator Award. The deadline to submit a brief Letter of Intent is June 5, 2024 11:59 PM. The full application deadline, for those invited to submit, is August 7, 2024. Learn more and apply to the 2025 Scholar-Innovator Award at HarringtonDiscovery.org/Scholar-Innovators.

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SOURCE Harrington Discovery Institute