The Lundbeck Foundation presented its Brain Prize to Huda Zoghbi, MD, Director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, and Sir Adrian Bird of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, at an awards ceremony in November 2021 in Copenhagen.
Dr. Zoghbi now also is Research-in-Chief at Texas Children’s, a new position announced by Mark A. Wallace, Texas Children’s President and CEO. An internationally renowned physician-scientist, Dr. Zoghbi, a Professor at Baylor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, founded the Duncan NRI in 2010. Under her leadership, it now is the home of state-of-the-art research into neurological disease in childhood.
"I am honored and excited to help build disease-oriented research," Dr. Zoghbi said. "I appreciate the confidence placed in me to assist in leading the state-of-the-art research at Texas Children's, which is so critical to not only the children and families in Texas, but around the world."
The $1.5 million annual Brain Prize, the largest prize for neuroscience in the world, recognizes highly original and influential advances in any area of brain research.
The Lundbeck Foundation named Dr. Zoghbi and Sir Adrian Bird as winners of the Brain Prize in 2020, but COVID-19 restrictions delayed the award ceremony to 2021. The winners accepted the award during a ceremony presided over by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. For more than three decades, Drs. Zoghbi’s and Bird’s pioneering research has led to an increased understanding of Rett syndrome and has brought patient families hope that there might one day be a treatment for the devastating neurodevelopmental disorder primarily affecting girls.
Dr. Zoghbi was honored for her role in discovering a gene mutation that causes Rett syndrome and for establishing the importance of epigenetic regulation in both brain development and the maintenance of normal adult brain function.
In addition, Dr. Zoghbi was elected to the National Academy of Medicine Governing Council for a three-year term, beginning in July 2021. This is among the most highly regarded accolades in medicine and is an honor that is afforded to individuals who are leaders in their field of medicine.