Dr. Drew Weissman | CureTalks

Dr. Drew Weissman serves as the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research and Director of the Institute for RNA Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a physician-scientist best known for his work with RNA biology that laid the groundwork for the mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 developed by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna. Alongside Katalin Karikó, he was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this groundbreaking work. His breakthrough in creating lipid nanoparticles for mRNA delivery revolutionized vaccine safety and efficacy. Currently, Dr. Weissman is advancing research on a pan-coronavirus vaccine, a universal flu vaccine, herpes prevention, and mRNA-based cancer therapies, while also working to expand global vaccine access. Dr. Weissman received his B.A. and M.A. from Brandeis University in biochemistry/enzymology and his MD and Ph.D from Boston University in immunology/microbiology. He did a residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, followed by a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).