ASHG 2026 Awards Honor Achievements in Research, Education, and More

One of the highlights of the annual American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) meeting are the awards. Indeed, last year, Julianna LeMieux, PhD, GEN‘s Deputy Editor in Chief, covered the award ceremony and acceptance speech by Eric Green, MD, PhD, for the Leadership Award, that brought the house down.

This year, ASHG is pleased to recognize seven recipients of its 2026 Professional Awards for their outstanding achievements in human genetics and genomics research, education, mentorship, and public service. Award winners will be recognized during ceremonies at the meeting later this week.

“ASHG is honored to recognize this exceptional group of awardees, whose work demonstrates the many ways human genetics and genomics can advance science and serve society,” said Susan A. Slaugenhaupt, PhD, ASHG President. “Each honoree has helped shape a stronger, more collaborative, and more impactful field. Their achievements inspire our community and reflect the promise of genetics to improve lives around the world.”

ASHG Lifetime Achievement Award

Yusuke Nakamura, MD, PhD: The ASHG Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes substantial and far-reaching scientific contributions to human genetics. Nakamura is the President of the National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition in Japan. His career reflects the extraordinary power of sustained scientific inquiry to transform a field. From pioneering highly polymorphic Variable Number Tandem Repeat (VNTR) markers that helped launch the positional cloning era, to identifying disease genes and illuminating the genetic foundations of cancer, Nakamura has repeatedly expanded what is possible in human genetics, immunogenomics, and genomics research. His landmark contributions to APC and colorectal cancer genetics helped shape modern molecular oncology, while his work on inherited disorders and complex traits broadened understanding of how genetic variation influences human health. Through leadership in the International HapMap Project, early genome-wide association studies, and the creation of BioBank Japan, he helped build the global infrastructure for precision medicine. As a scientist, mentor, and visionary leader, Nakamura’s legacy continues to inspire discovery and improve human health worldwide.

ASHG Leadership Award

Aravinda Chakravarti, PhD: The ASHG Leadership Award recognizes leadership and vision in advancing the ASHG mission through promotion of genetics and genomics knowledge into the broader scientific community. Chakravarti is the Director of the Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, Professor of Medicine, and the Muriel G. & George W. Singer Professor of Neuroscience at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in New York. Chakravarti has profoundly shaped modern human genetics through foundational contributions to population genetics, statistical genetics, linkage disequilibrium mapping, and the study of complex disease. His work helped identify the genetic mutation involved in cystic fibrosis, advanced understanding of Hirschsprung disease as a model for complex disease, and demonstrated the importance of non-coding genetic variation in human disorders. As a former ASHG president, founding editor of leading genomics publications, and leader in major international initiatives including the Human Genome Project, HapMap, and 1000 Genomes Project, Chakravarti has helped build the knowledge, methods, and collaborations that continue to move genetics and genomics forward.

ASHG Scientific Achievement Award

Wendy Chung, MD, PhD: The ASHG Scientific Achievement Award recognizes remarkable contributions to human genetics and genomics research over the last decade. Chung is Chief of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Mary Ellen Avery Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in Boston. An internationally recognized leader in genomic medicine, she has made discoveries that span congenital anomalies, autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, cardiopulmonary conditions, metabolic disease, obesity, diabetes, and rare Mendelian disorders. She has helped identify more than 60 new genes for human disease and has led major collaborative efforts that bring together clinicians, researchers, patients, and families to answer urgent scientific and clinical questions. Her work has moved gene discovery from the laboratory into clinical care, shaping genetic diagnosis, population-based screening, newborn sequencing, and emerging therapeutic approaches. Through scientific breadth, translational vision, and patient-centered leadership, Chung has profoundly advanced the field of human genetics.

ASHG Early Career Award

Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, MD, PhD: The ASHG Early Career Award recognizes early career independent investigators whose work has had a significant impact on the field of human genetics. Ahrens-Nicklas is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Human Genetics and Metabolism at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania and directs the Gene Therapy for Inherited Metabolic Diseases Program at CHOP in Philadelphia. She is leading a new era of precision medicine, advancing a future where a rare disease diagnosis could lead to a treatment path. Her work to develop and deliver the world’s first personalized in vivo CRISPR therapy for an infant with a severe, ultra-rare disease demonstrated the power of collaboration and the extraordinary potential of individualized genetic medicines. Today, she continues to develop custom therapies for patients with rare diseases, redefining what precision genomic medicine can achieve.

ASHG Advocacy Award

Roxanne Khamsi: The ASHG Advocacy Award honors excellence and achievement in promoting the science of human genetics and its application to the common good. Roxanne Khamsi is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. She has spent more than two decades illuminating the intersection of genetics, medicine, and human experience as a reporter, editor, and science journalist whose work has appeared in WIRED magazine, Scientific American, and The New York Times. She brings clarity, curiosity, and compassion to some of the most complex stories in science, including the diagnosis and treatment odyssey for patients with rare diseases, breaking stories on the genetic mechanisms of COVID, and challenging outdated classifications and models in medical genetics. Her new book, Beyond Inheritance, challenges reductive views of genetic mutations as purely harmful. With the rigor of a journalist and the humanity of a storyteller, she makes science accessible without flattening its nuance.

ASHG Education Award

Robbee Wedow, PhD: The ASHG Education Award recognizes outstanding contributions to human genetics education. Wedow is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Data Science at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. He is recognized for helping students see genetics—and one another—with greater clarity, curiosity, and care. As co-investigator and instructor of the Humane Genetics Curriculum (HGC), he has shaped a powerful learning experience that helps students understand human genetic variation, the complex roots of human traits, and the difference between what genetic evidence can—and cannot—support. Together with Brian Donovan, PhD, the developer of HGC, they have reached thousands of students in hundreds of classrooms nationwide, from middle school through undergraduate education. HGC gives educators a practical, scientifically precise framework for discussing race, ancestry, and genetics in today’s world. Grounded in discussion, critical inquiry, and mutual respect, Wedow’s teaching has prepared future leaders in his classrooms in medicine, law, public policy, and beyond to use genetics knowledge with both scientific rigor and social responsibility.

ASHG Mentorship Award

Nancy B. Spinner, PhD: The ASHG Mentorship Award recognizes ASHG members who have shown a sustained pattern of exemplary mentorship at the graduate student, postdoctoral, residency, or fellowship level. Spinner recently joined Northwell Health in New York as Associate Chair of Genomic Strategy and Faculty Development in the Department of Pathology. Her move to Northwell follows a 35-year career at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where she is now Emeritus Professor of Pathology. She has built a career defined not only by scientific excellence, but by the people she has helped succeed. Spinner was often ahead of the trends in her approach to mentorship, educating her trainees in translational science, and pairing rigorous training with thoughtful, individualized career development. She has trained more than 23 laboratory directors and scientists, all still active in the field, along with fellows, graduate students, undergraduates, and high school students, many of whom have advanced to faculty roles. Through association mentorship programs, service on committees, lectures, and career panels, Spinner creates the kind of collegial, generous environment where people stay, grow, and lead. Her gift is seeing each mentee clearly—and guiding them toward work aligned with their talents, accomplishments, and long-term best interests.

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