Nobel Prize laureate and Penn professor Katalin Karikó was inducted into the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania Class of 2024.
Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro held a special ceremony at the Governor's Mansion in Harrisburg, honoring the celebrated mRNA researcher and this year's other inductees. This recognition celebrates the career of Karikó — an adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine — and her basic science research that formed the foundation for the mRNA vaccines and therapeutics which saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Karikó, a Philadelphia resident who was born in Hungary, won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research Drew Weissman. Their 2005 research was integral to the development of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines, from which Penn has earned around $1.2 billion.
DDPA, an initiative of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, honors women for their service and contributions to the Commonwealth of Pa. in hopes of inspiring and empowering “women and girls in Pa. and beyond to achieve their fullest potential.” Over 550 women have previously been inducted into DDPA, including athletes, business executives, civic leaders, lawyers, and scientists.
The 2024 cohort includes 11 inductees representing a myriad of fields.
Karikó is the ninth Penn-affiliated recipient of the distinction, joining Judith Rodin and Amy Gutmann, former Penn presidents. Other recipients include NBC News' Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and 1967 College graduate Andrea Mitchell, Annenberg Public Policy Center Director Kathleen Hall Jamieson, University Emerita Trustee Susan Catherwood, former state Sen. and 1980 Wharton MBA graduate Connie Williams (D-Delaware/Montgomery), University Trustee Janet Haas, and Professor Emerita of Nursing Neville Strumpf.
In 2005, Karikó and Weissman found that mRNA can be modified in the laboratory to reduce RNA's inflammatory potential and produce higher amounts of antigenic protein. mRNA technology is currently being used to treat a variety of other infectious diseases, along with sickle cell disease, food allergies, and cancers.
Karikó has previously won a variety of other awards and recognitions for her contributions to the creation of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, including the 2022 European Inventor Award, the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, and TIME Magazine’s “Heroes of the Year” in 2021.
Karikó and Weissman were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2023. Earlier this year, Karikó was featured in Pfizer's Super Bowl commercial alongside other female medical trailblazers like Rosalind Franklin.
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