On Sunday, December 4, Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine’s pioneering neuroscientist Dr. Huda Zoghbi was honored with the Breakthrough Prize in the field of Life Sciences during a star-studded ceremony in San Francisco’s Silicon Valley.
Awarded annually to the world’s top scientists in fundamental physics, mathematics and the life sciences, the Breakthrough Prize is considered Silicon Valley’s most significant science prize for what they cite as paradigm-shifting research. The Prize was founded by Sergey Brin (Google), Anne Wojcicki (23andMe), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Priscilla Chan (Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives), Yuri Milner (DST Global) and Julia Milner.
Presented during a live broadcast on the National Geographic Channel, Zoghbi was recognized for her discoveries of the genetic causes and biochemical mechanisms of spinocerebellar ataxia, a neurodegenerative disorder affecting balance and coordination, and Rett syndrome, a genetic neurological disease characterized by the loss of motor skills, speech and other cognitive abilities affecting girls one or two years after birth. Prior to Zoghbi’s pioneering work in neuroscience, little was understood about the causes of these diseases, let alone how to potentially treat or cure them.
As one of the world’s leading neurogeneticists, Zoghbi, director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) at Texas Children’s and Baylor, has been instrumental in other important medical breakthroughs in neurological disease research including her most recent discovery of how lowering toxic levels of tau in the brain could potentially lead to new therapies to reverse or prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
“We are tremendously proud of the transformational work Dr. Zoghbi and her team are doing at the NRI. The numerous discoveries coming from Texas Children’s and Baylor will have an immeasurable impact on so many of our families suffering from unexplainable neurological diseases,” said Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace. “Please join me in congratulating Dr. Zoghbi for this well-deserved and prestigious global recognition.”
Zoghbi plans to donate the majority of her $3-million Breakthrough Prize to support education and research initiatives. She wishes to recognize the institutions that impacted her career including Texas Children’s and Baylor. The gifts will help advance genetic and neuroscience research.
Zoghbi thanked her supporters with the following acceptance speech: “As a young doctor, I found it heartbreaking to watch my patients, young and old, lose their lives to neurological diseases. I turned to research for answers, and today, together with collaborators and trainees, we are charting new paths towards viable therapies. It’s thrilling to see we are beginning to understand the language of life and translate it to help mankind. I feel fortunate to have had my career nurtured by two of the finest institutions, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital and to have the support of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. I thank my husband William and our children, Roula and Anthony, for their unwavering support, and they share this honor with me today.”
Click here to learn more about the ceremony and this award including a feature story on Zoghbi from the Houston Chronicle. FOX will air a one-hour version of the ceremony on Sunday, December 18, at 6 p.m.
In addition to this accolade, Zoghbi has earned dozens of honors and awards, including most recently the 2016 Shaw Prize in Medicine and the 2016 Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal for her research.