penn Medicine Immunologist Honored with Prestigious john Scott Award
PHILADELPHIA – David Fajgenbaum,a graduate of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a leading immunologist with penn Medicine,has been awarded the John Scott Award by the American Philosophical Society. The honor, one of the oldest science awards in the United States, recognizes individuals whose inventions and discoveries have considerably improved human welfare.
The John Scott Award is presented to those whose work enhances the “comfort, welfare, and happiness” of humankind. Fajgenbaum will share the $10,000 prize with two faculty members from Princeton University. His recognition stems from groundbreaking work born from a personal battle with a rare and life-threatening illness, idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD), diagnosed during his third year at Penn’s Medical School in 2010.
Facing a grim prognosis, Fajgenbaum proactively began storing vials of his own blood for testing. Analysis revealed elevated levels of a specific protein, prompting a recollection of a lecture detailing how a drug used in organ transplant recipients suppressed that very protein. He successfully advocated for himself to receive the repurposed medication, a decision that ultimately saved his life.
Driven by his experience, Fajgenbaum founded Every Cure, a nonprofit leveraging artificial intelligence to accelerate the identification of potential treatments for rare diseases. Prior to this technology, researchers manually investigated each disease and drug combination – a time-consuming process. Every Cure’s AI significantly increases research efficiency. He also co-founded the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network in 2012 to expedite research and treatment for iMCD.
Fajgenbaum’s work has demonstrably improved outcomes for Castleman disease patients, contributing to more effective treatments and increased survival rates. he has also been instrumental in advancing 14 repurposed treatments for both cancer and rare diseases.A prolific author with over 100 scientific publications, including contributions to The Lancet, Fajgenbaum also penned the bestselling memoir, Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope Into Action, which is currently being adapted into a film.
