DURHAM, N.C. – The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is pleased to announce the 2026 recipients of its Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS), a program designed to support physician-scientists at a critical stage in their careers as they transition to independent faculty positions.
The CAMS program provides five years of funding to help bridge the gap between postdoctoral or fellowship training and the launch of a successful independent research career. The award supports physician-scientists conducting cutting-edge biomedical research while balancing the demands of clinical training and early faculty development.
Physician-scientists play a vital role in advancing medical discovery by connecting clinical insight with laboratory investigation. Yet the pathway to independence has become increasingly challenging, with longer training periods, growing clinical demands, and intense competition for research funding. CAMS aims to help address these barriers by investing in exceptional early-career researchers whose work has the potential to improve human health.
The 2026 CAMS recipients represent a broad range of scientific disciplines and medical specialties, reflecting the diversity of approaches needed to tackle today’s most pressing biomedical challenges. Their research spans fundamental discovery, translational science, and innovative approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
“Physician-scientists bring a uniquely powerful perspective to biomedical research,” said Paige Cooper Byas, Program Officer at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. “By supporting these investigators at a pivotal moment in their careers, we are investing in future leaders who will drive discoveries from bench to bedside and ultimately improve patient care.”
Since its inception, the CAMS program has helped launch the careers of hundreds of physician-scientists who have gone on to become leaders in academic medicine, biomedical research, and clinical innovation.
2026 Career Awards for Medical Scientists Recipients are:
Gabriele Casirati, MD, PhD
Boston Children’s Hospital
Engineering Novel Adenine Base Editors with Programmable Specificity for Precision Genome Editing
Stephen Chang, MD, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine
Defining and therapeutic targeting of a primate-specific magnesium clock in the cardiac pacemaker
Jonathan Kotzin, MD, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Somatic mutations as neoantigens in ANCA-associated vasculitis
Amin Nassar, MD
Yale University
Mechanistic Insights and Machine Learning Predictors of Lung Injury, Fibrosis, and Immunotherapy Toxicities
Zachary Rosenthal, MD, PhD
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Decoding Electroconvulsive Therapy: Spreading Depolarization as a Biomarker and Antidepressant Mechanism Across Species
Viral Shah, MD, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Physiologic Regeneration: How to Restore Airway Physiology After Injury
Cassandra Simonich, MD, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Defining Antibody Escape in the RSV Fusion Protein to Inform Prophylactic Strategies
Boghuma Titanji, MD, PhD
Emory University
Targeting JAK-STAT Signaling to Prevent Cardiovascular Aging in People with HIV
Amy Vandiver, MD, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
Utilizing mitochondrial genomics to identify novel vulnerabilities in human aging
Lara Wahlster, MD, PhD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Defining the role of genetic risk variants in IKZF1 in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia predisposition and pathogenesis
Sean Wang, MD
Harvard University Medical School
Deep learning-guided design of cell type-specific gene therapy vectors
Rui Yang, MD, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine
The genetic spectrum of CD40- and CD40LG-related diseases
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