Three studies led by researchers from Penn Medicine were selected for the Clinical Research Forum’s Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards.
Credit: Grace ChenThree studies led by faculty of Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine were selected for the Clinical Research Forum’s Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards this year.
The Clinical Research Forum, established in 1996 to discuss challenges facing clinical research among the "senior clinical research leadership of leading academic health and science systems," runs an annual national awards program that seeks to identify clinical advancements spurred from national investment in research programs.
Penn’s selected papers include the development of a CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing agent that restored partial sight in a group of patients, including two children, who were born with a form of blindness caused by the mutation of a single gene, innovations in hard-to-treat cancers by using FOXO1 proteins to improve the “survival and potency” of CAR T cells, and research revealing “more similarities than differences in genetic architectures across populations."
Four additional Penn papers were part of the Forum’s competition finalists.
According to the Forum, the top 10 papers were selected “based on the degree of innovation and novelty in the advancement of science; contribution to the understanding of human disease and/or physiology; and potential impact upon the diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of disease.”
All top 10 awardees will be recognized, and the top three studies will receive additional cash awards and distinction.
“Seeing so much of the work done by our researchers recognized in this way is extremely gratifying, and it shows that our teams are revolutionizing care for patients across the world both today and for generations to come,” Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the Medical School Emma Meagher told Penn Medicine.
This year marks the third time that three Penn-led research papers have made the Forum’s top 10 list since the competition’s founding.
In 2024, the Top 10 program awarded Penn-led research titled “The effects of government-led cash transfers on all-cause mortality in low- and middle-income countries.” Additionally, Penn-led “Breakthrough Discovery and Development of Innovation Precision-Based Therapy in Complex Lymphatic Anomalies” was awarded by the 2020 program.
“We know that when it comes to translational research that can leave the lab and make a difference in the real world, Penn has always been a leader," Meagher added.
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