The laboratory of David Weiner, PhD, a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received the 2015 Vaccine Industry Excellence Award for Best Academic Research Team, at the World Vaccine Congress in Washington, DC this week. The Congress is an annual meeting of vaccine professionals from industry, academia, and non-profit organizations.
"It is a great honor to receive this important award, especially with such an exceptional field of deserving finalists," says Weiner. "This award is testimony to the many wonderful scientists who I have been lucky to have had pass through my laboratory, as well as those that I have been fortunate to collaborate with from academia or industry, and to the exceptional research environment present at Penn."
The Weiner lab's DNA vaccines program was chosen over other finalists from Duke University, Harvard Medical School, and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center by hundreds of vaccine stakeholders who voted for those most deserving of recognition for their work across 14 vaccine-related categories.
This award, given annually to the research group that has produced products with a novel mode of action, seen them progress into human trials, and can demonstrate significant supportive research grants, was given to Weiner and his lab for making significant contributions to the field of DNA vaccines.
Weiner is also chair of the Gene Therapy and Vaccine Program and co-leader of Tumor Virology Program in the Abramson Cancer Center.
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