Huda Zoghbi Shares the $1 Million Kavli Prize in Neuroscience for 2022

Huda Zoghbi, a professor of pediatrics, neurology, neuroscience, and molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, the founding director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, and a member of the board of trustees of Rice University in Houston, is a co-recipient of the 2022 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, a million-dollar award that is among science’s most prestigious honors.

The Kavli Prize in Neuroscience is presented every two years by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Dr. Zoghbi, Jean-Louis Mandel of the University of Strasbourg, Harry Orr of the University of Minnesota Medical School, and Christopher Walsh of Harvard Medical School were honored “for pioneering the discovery of genes underlying a range of serious brain disorders.”

The academy also recognized each recipient for developing novel strategies for diagnosis and treatment of brain disease. Dr. Zoghbi was recognized for her work on Rett syndrome and spinocerebellar ataxia type 1.

Professor Zoghbi is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the recipient of many honors, including the 2020 Brain Prize, the 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, and the 2016 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine.

A native of Lebanon, Dr. Zoghbi earned a bachelor’s degree at the American University of Beirut and received her medical training at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. She joined the faculty at the Baylor College of Medicine in 1988.