Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, Chief of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Paragon Award for Research Excellence from the Doris Duke Foundation at a celebration event on October 26, 2023 in New York City. The Paragon Award for Research Excellence celebrates physician scientists who have significantly advanced knowledge toward the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human disease or who have, through their professional contributions, improved health outcomes of patients today. The award is anchored in the conviction that to impact clinical outcomes, we need innovation on many fronts, the dedication of many to mentoring and the cultivation of promising ideas. Honorees, who are past recipients of the Doris Duke Foundation’s Clinical Scientist Development Award, are selected based on their proven accomplishments in one of the following categories: outstanding contributions to their field of study; impactful developments in disease diagnosis, treatment or prevention; and innovative improvements to clinical care or healthcare delivery.

 

Dr. Barouch received his undergraduate BA degree summa cum laude from Harvard College, his PhD from Oxford University on a Marshall Scholarship, and his MD summa cum laude from Harvard Medical School. He completed clinical training in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and in Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He founded and currently serves as the Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and he is the William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Barouch’s laboratory focuses on studying the immunology and pathogenesis of viral infections and developing novel vaccine and treatment strategies. He pioneered the creation of a series of vaccine platform technologies, including novel recombinant adenovirus vectors such as Ad26. He utilized this technology to develop vaccine candidates for multiple pathogens of global significance, including HIV-1, Zika virus, tuberculosis, and most recently SARS-CoV-2. He utilized the Ad26 vector to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, which led to the Johnson & Johnson Ad26.COV2.S vaccine that has now been administered to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

 

Dr. Barouch has authored over 400 research papers. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020, and he received the King Faisel Prize in Medicine in 2023. He is also a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Oswald Avery Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (2012), Bostonian of the Year (2016), Best Academic Research Team from the World Vaccine Congress (2019), Bloomberg 50 Most Influential People (2020), Global Citizen Hero from the American Red Cross (2021), STAT Madness Winner (2021), Ray Stata Leadership and Innovation Award from the Massachusetts High Technology Council (2021), George Ledlie Prize from Harvard University (2021), Hero Among Us from the Boston Celtics (2021), Bostonian of the Year (2021), and Daniel Jick Excellence in Leadership Award (2022).

 

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Barouch on this exciting and thoroughly-deserved award!