Huda Y. Zoghbi has been named the inaugural recipient of the Nancy Lurie Marks Prize for Autism Research from the Lurie Autism Institute, a joint initiative of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, the healthcare system of the University of Pennsylvania. The award, which includes a $100,000 prize, is the institute’s highest honor recognizing transformative contributions to autism research.
Dr. Zoghbi is a distinguished service professor in the departments of molecular and human genetics, pediatrics, neuroscience, and neurology at Baylor College of Medicine, where she has taught for nearly four decades. She also serves as founding director of the Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s and is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
A pediatric neurologist and physician-scientist, Dr. Zoghbi has made extensive contributions to the understanding of the genetic and molecular basis of neurological disease, including autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease. Her research integrates human genetics, animal models, and systems-level neuroscience to define how disruptions in gene regulation, neuronal maturation, and circuit function drive disease.
Born and raised in Lebanon, Dr. Zogbhi earned her undergraduate degree in biology from the American University of Beirut and began medical school there before ultimately transferring to Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. After receiving her medical degree, she completed residencies in pediatrics and pediatric neurology and a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular genetics at Baylor College of Medicine.