Nine Harvard faculty members win NIH’s Pioneer, Innovator Awards

Nine Harvard researchers "well-positioned to make significant - and potentially transformative - discoveries in a variety of areas," ranging from brain development to reprogramming stem cells, have been awarded special funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The grants, announced Tuesday (Sept. 18), total $15 million over the next five years. They will be distributed through two NIH grant programs, both overseen by NIH Director Elias Zerhouni. One, the NIH Director's Pioneer Award, funds established researchers with $2.5 million each. The second, the Director's New Innovator Award, gives $1.5 million each to young, promising investigators.

Three Harvard-affiliated faculty members at Children's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) won Pioneer Awards. New Innovator Awards went to faculty members in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women's Hospital.