2026 Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award Explore All 2026 Winners & Awards > The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research For empowering patients’ voices and accelerating research to find improved therapies and a cure for Parkinson’s disease The 2026 Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award honors Michael J. Fox (Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research) for empowering patients’ voices and accelerating research to find improved therapies and a cure for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Fox has harnessed his celebrity to raise the profile of this devastating illness, dispel stigma for those who have it, and spearhead a revolution in the world of PD research. The trailblazing foundation that he conceived and launched has spurred scientists, clinicians, industry leaders, non-profits, and donors to join patients, who are actively engaged in the enterprise of finding therapies that would most improve their well-being. In 1990, at age 29, fabulously successful and popular actor Michael J. Fox woke up to a twitching pinky. A diagnosis of early-onset Parkinson’s disease soon followed. For years, he resisted publicly sharing the news. This was a personal matter, he reasoned, and he dreaded tabloid news frenzies, which had already invaded private moments such as his wedding and father’s funeral. He also worried that audiences wouldn’t laugh if they were watching for symptoms. Moreover, denial percolated: Maybe the diagnosis was a mistake; maybe he would magically recover. As his career flourished, he concocted tricks to hide the tremors, but the weight of his secret grew. In 1998, he decided to stop pretending and to integrate his health status into all areas of his life. He made an announcement to his fans and the world. The race is on Michael J. Fox helps cheer on Team Fox runners at the 2011 New York City Marathon. Considered a movement disorder due to its hallmark slowness, stiffness, and tremors, PD spawns other symptoms as well, including mood and thinking difficulties, insomnia, and loss of smell. These afflictions, underappreciated even by many physicians, reflected unmet medical needs and research opportunities. The lynchpin treatment, levodopa, resupplies the neurotransmitter dopamine that’s missing in PD-affected brains but it alleviates only the motor disturbances. Furthermore, it does not combat the underlying cause—loss of brain cells that make dopamine—and thus fails to stop progression. As the disease worsens, people need more and more medication, which brings debilitating side effects. After Fox’s revelation, a multitude of PD organizations appealed to him for support. As the entreaties amassed, he catalogued their worthwhile activities and realized that a gaping hole existed: No one was applying significant philanthropic resources toward finding an effective remedy for the disease. Scientists told him that auspicious ideas abounded, but federal funding to explore them fell short. Furthermore, PD research lacked global oversight and vision. The field desperately needed a department of cures. A business that aims to put itself out of business Fox decided to create a foundation that would strategize how to get from basic science to the pharmacy shelf, guided by input from patients about what would most benefit them. Then it would do everything necessary to make that happen as quickly as possible. He decided to run the organization like an entrepreneurial venture that aimed to cure PD. Unlike a normal company, though, victory would mean making itself obsolete. He hired business maven Deborah Brooks to run the operation, and they established the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) in 2000. Bound only by a clearcut mission to deliver better treatments, they surveyed the PD-research scene, imagining how they could exploit tantalizing findings and accelerate progress in areas that patients deemed most vital. The MJFF could take risks that traditional funders such as the NIH tended to shy away from. It could fund scientists in any sector from anywhere in the world. Crucially, it could adopt a broad test-tube-to-medicine view, incorporating a pharmaceutical-company perspective that would help propel findings in academic labs toward clinical utility. As Fox, Brooks, and their MJFF colleagues strategized about how to rapidly get money into the hands of researchers who were doing the most promising work, they scanned for obstacles and devised ways to remove them. The foundation slashed the amount of time and effort required to apply for and obtain grants. It simplified forms and hired Ph.D.-trained neuroscientists, which afforded in-house savvy that enabled speedy decisions. From the start, MJFF manifested Fox’s expectation of finding the most efficient way forward. It wields intellectual as well as financial resources to shape research. Proposal reviewers don’t just approve or reject a plan; they brainstorm possible improvements, offering or sometimes requiring investigators to incorporate adjustments. The foundation tracks progress and troubleshoots stalls. It cultivates an atmosphere of collaborative problem solving and ensures that its grantees release results promptly so that others have access to the latest discoveries. Furthermore, MJFF identifies and recruits scientists into the field who don’t think of themselves as studying PD, but who possess relevant expertise. As a neutral party with tremendous credibility, MJFF serves as a diplomatic as well as a funding hub. It forges new research teams—and it has even brokered conversations and data sharing among competing companies. Since its inception, the foundation has funded more than $3 billion in Parkinson’s research, and its annual investment exceeds that of the United States government. In the past 25 years, insight into the illness’s genetic and cellular underpinnings has exploded. Scientists have uncovered multiple and diverse targets, including some that might lie at the root of disease. Several dozen MJFF-supported therapies are under investigation, some of which are in clinical trials. Many symptomatic treatments have achieved FDA approval or are close. Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali testify before Congress on behalf of the Parkinson’s community in May 2002 (left); Fox meets with bipartisan members of the House of Representatives in February 2017 (right). A marker of success From the moment he announced his diagnosis, Fox has energized patients and involved them in the scientific enterprise. Since then, MJFF has established itself not just the largest funder of PD research in the world, but also as a core coordinator that helps connect volunteers with appropriate clinical trials. The foundation has also channeled patients’ desire to become active partners in research. Historically, the field has lacked a measurable physiological substance that could predict PD, diagnose it, or track its progression. The absence of such a biomarker creates numerous bottlenecks; among them, companies have no way to assess whether a potential drug is working. Given the monumental cost of bringing a single agent to market, this situation soured the allure of PD programs and stymied the undertaking from a practical standpoint. A biomarker could change pharma’s risk calculus. Toward that end, MJFF launched the Parkinson’s Precision Medicine Initiative Study (PPMI). The goal: Track people as soon as possible after diagnosis, collecting samples and measuring any entity that might plausibly prove informative. PPMI presented a huge financial and operational gamble for MJFF. Even with robust participation and astute data analysis, there was no guarantee that biology would produce a useful tool. But Fox grasped that the project was essential to advance the field. When the MJFF board was debating the controversial proposal, he leaned over the table and declared, “It sounds as if someone has to do this; if not us, who?” His boldness and persuasiveness secured PPMI’s initial funding. Researchers across the globe have used its rich cache of data and biological materials to probe crucial questions about PD. In 2023, a PPMI study reported a breakthrough—a technique that detects abnormal clumps of a protein called alpha-synuclein in spinal fluid. The test identifies people with PD and even asymptomatic people who are at high risk of disease. Scientists are hard at work trying to translate the findings into a quantifiable skin or blood test. Effective activism Outside of his contributions to the foundation, Fox has leveraged his fame to sway lawmakers. Through formal testimony and lobbying, he has pushed congress to increase funding for Parkinson’s research and keep open all avenues. In that vein, he fueled widespread discussion of stem-cell experimentation, and he stumped for candidates who supported this endeavor. His appearance in a particularly compelling 2006 campaign ad prompted conservative radio-program host Rush Limbaugh to accuse him of faking his jerky movements. This attempt to assail Fox’s integrity thrust the clip into the spotlight, inciting more than two million views. Fox also influences PD policy through informal phone calls to key legislators. His advocacy played a crucial role in securing the passage of the National Plan to End Parkinson’s in 2024, a law that unites and coordinates federal activities that target the disease. Fox has deployed his eloquence, vulnerability, and sincerity in five memoirs. These books have heartened people with Parkinson’s disease, and they have educated and touched the wider public. He evocatively describes, for instance, the ways in which PD “rendered me a prisoner in my own body.” He demonstrated similar candidness in the award-winning documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie . His willingness to grapple honestly and openly with his predicament has bestowed a great gift upon us all. Fox’s courage and leadership has galvanized all elements of the Parkinson’s community. Instead of shrinking into his health challenges upon being struck with the brutal ailment, Fox stepped onto the world stage. His enthusiasm, buoyancy, and single-minded focus has transformed the experience and outlook for everyone with this degenerative neurological disorder. by Evelyn Strauss Award presentation: Margaret Hamburg Thank you Claire, for that warm introduction. It’s such a pleasure to be a part of the Lasker Foundation Family. This year, I had the privilege of chairing the jury that selects the Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service award winner. It was a process that left me inspired by the incredible efforts underway around the world that are putting medical science to work for public health. The Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award recognizes exceptional public health, policy, and advocacy initiatives that improve lives and advance the greater good. The award feels especially important at a time when we are asking a lot from anyone involved in medical research and public health endeavors. It’s no longer enough to just to be an expert in a particular area and achieve prominence in your field. We need you to be expert communicators, engaging with the public and politicians. We need you to be expert collaborators, building new partnerships and mentoring a new generation talent. We need you to be expert capacity builders, attracting investments for state-of-the-art laboratories and clinical trial networks. This year’s winners, Quarraisha and Salim Abdool Karim, have embraced all these challenges. And their achievements in each area have been extraordinary. Their accomplishments are especially impressive because for more than 30 years they have worked as both professional partners and life partners. They have adjoining offices at CAPRISA—the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa. They share an administrative assistant. They even share a Twitter account. It’s hard to say whether they should co-author a book about their professional achievements or a guide to a successful marriage.

Let’s reflect for a moment on what this amazing couple has accomplished. Their contributions to HIV prevention can in many respects be traced back to Quarraisha’s work in the early 1990s when she led South Africa’s initial efforts to understand community spread of HIV. It was a time when HIV prevalence was still relatively low in South Africa. She and her team found that infections were rising rapidly in teen-age girls. Her interest in developing new ways to prevent infections in women led to her a breakthrough collaboration with Salim. In 2010, they reported evidence from a CAPRISA clinical trial showing that a vaginal gel containing the anti-retroviral drug tenofovir could prevent sexually acquired HIV. The study spurred one of the biggest breakthroughs of the HIV pandemic: the development of antiretrovirals as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PreP. The couple is now working on a long-acting version of PreP. They also are leading the development of an HIV monoclonal antibody. They want to determine if it offers another way to provide long-lasting protection while also informing efforts to develop an HIV vaccine. Their ground-breaking work in the fight against HIV includes a major advance against a leading cause of death among HIV patients—co-infections with TB. They led a trial which showed that combining antiretroviral treatments with TB treatments greatly improves survival. This has now become a standard of care globally. In Africa, it’s credited with averting more than one hundred thousand deaths a year. Few who knew of their work were surprised that the Abdool Karim’s were immediately front and center when the world was faced with a new pandemic: Covid-19. They were highly visible in mainstream media outlets in South Africa and across the region. They were effective communicators, pushing back against Covid falsehoods just as they had done earlier in their careers with HIV. In 2020, the John Maddox Prize for promoting sound science was split between two people: Anthony Fauci and Salim Abdool Karim. The Abdool Karim’s also published studies examining how the new Covid virus affected HIV and TB patients. And their interest in Covid-19 variants provided the first evidence of the dangers posed by the omicron variant. The couple is also leaving a lasting legacy of research capacity and talent. Twenty years ago, they led the creation of CAPRISA. It is now widely recognized as a global hub of innovation and discovery for HIV and other infectious diseases. They also created South Africa’s HIV Prevention and Vaccine Research Unit and Salim developed a biotech research center and a TB research institute in South Africa. Along the way, the couple has trained over 600 African infectious disease scientists. And they have been role models and inspirations to countless others. Both are trained as infectious disease epidemiologists. Salim has said that he leans somewhat more to the laboratory side of things while Quarraisha may at times focus more on the role of human behavior in the spread of infectious diseases. He said they tend to meet together several times each day to discuss their research projects. Salim uses a scientific term to describe how two people can be so successful as both colleagues and spouses. He said it comes down to chemistry. There are more than a few true chemistry experts here today, but even for those of us with more rudimentary skills, I think we can all appreciate how when two or more chemical elements combine they form a compound. We are all fortunate that the very special, unique, and highly active chemical compound consisting of Quarraisha and Salim Abdool Karim emerged to save hundreds of thousands of lives, fight for scientific integrity and public trust, and build a new biomedical research infrastructure in South Africa that is now a major force for global health. They embody the Lasker’s Foundation commitment to generating support for medical research by recognition of scientific excellence, advocacy and education. Thank you Quarraisha and Salim for your work. You are truly an inspiration for us all. Acceptance remarks Quarraisha Abdool Karim Quarraisha Abdool Karim Salim Abdool Karim Salim Abdool Karim Quarraisha Abdool Karim Quarraisha Abdool Karim Acceptance Remarks: Quarraisha Abdool Karim Our lived experience of growing up in apartheid South Africa, has had a profound effect on how we see our role as scientists. As young anti-apartheid activists involved the daily struggle for freedom, human rights and justice, we know the importance of human dignity and inclusiveness in all facets of life including in our scientific endeavours. We also benefited from the wisdom and guidance of several mentors who were both great scientists and deeply committed anti-apartheid activists. We remain eternally grateful to them for their guidance and advice, which reinforced for us the notion that science in service of humanity and social justice are two sides of the same coin. In particular, we are grateful to President Nelson Mandela who shaped our perspective on the role of scientists in serving society, as he eloquently outlined in the Foreword he wrote in our book on AIDS. It is therefore not surprising that our careers veered towards public health and that we have spent over three decades focusing on the health of the most disadvantaged in our society – young black women. Some 35 years ago, when the world’s attention was on HIV in men who have sex with men, we found that in Africa, young women bore the brunt of the HIV epidemic, largely due to sex with men who were about a decade older. And so, we focused our research on developing and testing technologies that empowered women to protect themselves. Our contributions to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis were one small but important step in the larger social challenge of gender-power dynamics, that highlights the powerful role that science can play in social transformation. We are in a tumultuous moment globally—a time when science is needed more than ever to tackle several of the world’s most complex challenges—pandemics, climate change, man-made famines in the midst of conflicts and widening inequalities within and between countries. Our hope lies in the ubiquity of science, on it transcending political and cultural barriers as the universal language to build bridges between the peoples of this world. Our interconnectedness and shared vulnerabilities underscore the importance of working together as scientists in service of humanity to generate knowledge and innovations to make the world a better place for everyone. Salim Abdool Karim Salim Abdool Karim In March 2021, the NIH announced a new program, CIPRA—Comprehensive International Program on AIDS—to create a small set of AIDS research centres of excellence globally. It was a marked departure from the usual NIH grants in that only non-US investigators and institutions could be leaders of the application. In response, Quarraisha and I brought together a group of 10 of South Africa’s leading medical scientists and so CAPRISA—the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa—was born 22 years ago. At that time, colonial-type relationships were the order of the day – where developing country researchers were reduced to being collectors of patients and samples for developed country scientists. CIPRA bucked that trend. It set out on a path of partnership, where there was no master and no servant, but rather partners working together for a common purpose and mutual benefit. CAPRISA itself was a similarly mutually beneficial cross-Atlantic partnership involving Columbia University and 4 South African research institutions—all as equal partners. About a year after CIPRA, PEPFAR—the US President’s Emergency for AIDS Relief—was created as the biggest global solidarity initiative by a single country to address a health challenge. To save lives with treatment, PEPFAR served as a mechanism for the people of the US to assist poor countries with their AIDS response. A visionary humanitarian initiative, it took shared responsibility in a pandemic to new heights. In accepting this Lasker award, we are recognising the power of global solidarity for global impact, which has been deeply imbued in our work on HIV prevention and treatment over the past 35 years. While we provided the initial evidence that antiretrovirals prevent sexual HIV transmission as PrEP, today PrEP is used in over 100 countries. If a patient with HIV and Tuberculosis co-infection anywhere in the world, including here in the US, is being treated according to WHO or CDC guidelines, that patient’s treatment is based on research conducted in South Africa by a multi-country CAPRISA team. In a world wracked by division, conflict and anti-immigration hatred, this award is a sober reminder of how science reminds us of our shared humanity across the globe. We stand here today because of the power of global solidarity and partnerships in science that have saved tens of thousands of lives and helped make the world a better place for generations to come. 2026 Public Service Award video Reimagination in art and science: seeing the familiar in a new light and creating new things that didn’t exist before