About the Award
The Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal is awarded every two years for outstanding research in the medical sciences. The medal carries with it a $25,000 award, and an additional $50,000 for research. The Kovalenko Fund, gifted by Michael S. Kovalenko in 1949 to the National Academy of Science in memory of his wife, Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko, was specifically designed to recognize the achievements made to the medical sciences and, over the past 70 years, has honored many outstanding contributors.
Mike Stratton, Wellcome Sanger Institute, will receive the 2026 Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal.
Stratton’s revolutionary work in cancer genomics has transformed how we understand, diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer.
He established the Cancer Genome Project, using the newly sequenced human genome as a template on which to systematically sequence cancer genomes. Through genome-wide sequencing studies, Stratton identified numerous inherited and somatically mutated genes that drive a wide range of human cancers. His discoveries include mutations in the BRAF gene, which enabled the development of targeted therapies for melanoma, as well as uncovering the mutational signatures of the environmental exposures and endogenous mutational processes underlying cancer development. He led the discovery of the breast cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA2, and sequenced the first complete cancer genome.
Stratton’s work has had a profound and lasting impact on both cancer research and patient care. He continues to provide critical insights into the process of human carcinogenesis. His ongoing research explores the somatic mutation patterns of normal cell genomes across tissues of the human body and analyzes mutations in both normal cell and cancer genomes from populations worldwide to uncover the existence of currently uncharacterized population exposures that may contribute to cancer risk.
Watch him receive the award online during the 163rd NAS Annual Meeting on April 26th.
Award History
The first Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal was awarded to Alfred N. Richards in 1952 for his outstanding contributions to medical science over a period of a half-century, both as an investigator and as a research executive and administrator. Richards received his first honor in 1897, when he became the first graduate student at Columbia to earn his PhD in physiological chemistry. Richards’ early research focused on the liver and chronic indole poisoning as a possible cause for cyclic vomiting in children although later, he notably sought to study the physiological and ecological effects of the atomic bomb. Richards served as Chairman of the Committee on Medical Research for President Roosevelt and, from 1947-1950, he served as the National Academy of Sciences’ own President, overseeing the establishment of the National Science Foundation.
Previous recipients of the Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal continue to achieve outstanding advancements in their fields. Three recipients have been honored with a National Medal of Science, nine recipients have received a Lasker Award, and six recipients have received a Nobel Prize in Medicine (Rous 1966; Whipple 1934; Karikó 2023; Weissman 2023), in Chemistry (Lefkowitz 2012), and in Physiology (Allison 2018).
Most Recent Recipient
