Freeman and Sharpe Receive Hamburg Award from National Academy of Medicine for Discoveries Leading to New, Effective Immunotherapies

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) today announced that Gordon Freeman and Arlene Sharpe are the recipients of the 2024 David and Beatrix Hamburg Award for Advances in Biomedical Research and Clinical Medicine for their breakthrough work identifying costimulatory pathways that control the activation and inhibition of T cell immune responses, leading to new, effective immunotherapies for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and transplant rejection. The award, which recognizes the recipients’ achievements with a medal and $50,000, will be presented at the NAM’s annual meeting on Oct. 20. Freeman is a professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2022. Sharpe is the Kolokotrones University Professor and chair of the Department of Immunology at Harvard Medical School and was elected to both the NAM and NAS in 2018.

Freeman and Sharpe’s work has resulted in critical discoveries in the field of immunology, shaping understanding of the costimulatory and checkpoint inhibitory families of molecules that form the basis for cancer immunotherapy. Their seminal research identified crucial costimulatory pathways that control the activation and inhibition of T cell immune responses and led to the discovery of PD-L1 and PD-L2 as ligands for PD-1, as well as B7-1 (CD80) and B7-2 (CD86) as ligands for CD28 and CTLA-4. These discoveries have become fundamental principles of immunology and provided critical translational insights for therapies for cancer (pembrolizumab, nivolumab, atezolimumab, and others), autoimmune diseases (abatacept), and transplant rejection (belatacept). Their work has also led to landmark clinical trials for cancer immunotherapy and Food and Drug Administration approval of antibody drugs for over 21 tumor types, including lung and melanoma.

The success of PD-1 immunotherapy has changed the strategy for cancer therapy and has led to improved outcomes for patients. For example, just 10 years ago, few patients with melanoma survived longer than two years. Now, about 40% of melanoma patients treated with PD-1 antibody drugs live longer than 10 years. Freeman and Sharpe’s discoveries have resulted in new hope for cancer patients and energized scientists and the pharmaceutical industry.

Created in 2021, this award is named for David Hamburg, who was president of the Institute of Medicine from 1975-1980, and Beatrix Hamburg, an NAM member and expert in child and adolescent behavioral health. The award is funded by an endowment established in 2004 in honor of the Hamburgs’ life and legacy.

The award recognizes an exceptional biomedical research discovery, translation, or public health intervention by one or more scientists that has fundamentally enriched the understanding of biology and disease, leading to a significant improvement in human health and social well-being and reduction in global health inequities. Nominees are eligible for consideration without regard to education or profession, and award recipients are selected by a committee of experts convened by the National Academy of Medicine. The selection committee is chaired by Huda Y. Zoghbi, distinguished service professor, Baylor College of Medicine; director, Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital; and investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The National Academy of Medicine, established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social, and behavioral sciences; and beyond. It serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as an adviser to the nation and the international community. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy and inspire positive action across sectors. The NAM collaborates closely with its peer academies and other divisions within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.