Penn Medicine researcher and Perelman School of Medicine professor Drew Weissman was one of 82 American Nobel Prize winners to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president in an open letter on Oct. 24.
Weissman, a Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research, won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine along with colleague Katalin Karikó for his research on mRNA technology, which laid the foundation for COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Alongside Weissman, 81 other Nobel laureates across the disciplines of chemistry, physics, medicine, and economics signed the open letter supporting Harris in her bid for president.
“This is the most consequential presidential election in a long time, perhaps ever, for the future of science and the United States,” the signees wrote. “We, the undersigned, strongly support Harris.”
The letter — coming two weeks before the presidential election — compared the two presidential candidates’ views on science and its importance for government policy. It stated that Harris “recognizes and understands that maintaining America’s leadership” in the fields of science and technology requires financial support from the federal government, universities, and international partnerships.
“Harris also recognizes the key role that immigrants have always played in the advancement of science,” the signees added.
The letter warned that electing former president and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump would be detrimental for science.
“He would undermine future US leadership on these and other fronts, as well as jeopardize any advancements in our standards of living, slow the progress of science and technology, and impede our responses to climate change,” the signees wrote.
Trump’s budget proposal from his time in office called for budget cuts to domestic scientific institutions and research funding, such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others. Columbia University economist and 2001 Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz, who drafted the open letter, told The New York Times that he was motivated by these “enormous cuts in science budgets” proposed by Trump.
“I hope it’s a wake-up call for people,” Stiglitz told the Times. “A consequence of this election is the really profound impact that his agenda has on science and technology.”
The letter signees ranged from the 1975 Nobel Prize winner to the most recent laureates in 2024.
“At no time in our nation's history has there been a greater need for our leaders to appreciate the value of science in formulating public policy,” the signees declared.
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