The Basser Center is proud to announce Ephrat Levy-Lahad, MD, of Shaare Zedek Medical Center and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as the recipient of the 2025 Basser Global Prize.

Levy-Lahad has been recognized for leading population-based BRCA screening programs. Levy-Lahad has been active in BRCA1 and BRCA2 research and clinical translation for 30 years, starting a few months after the cloning of BRCA1 and a few months before the cloning of BRCA2. She is one of the world’s leading experts on inherited breast cancer among Jewish women. Her accomplishments include establishing for the first time that risks of breast and ovarian cancer are high among BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers identified from the general population - not just among carriers with a family history of cancer. This work provided the evidence-base and impetus for implementing a free nationwide genetic screening program among Ashkenazi Jews in Israel, which has since expanded to include Ethiopian Jews. She also co-led the Middle East Breast Cancer Study, uncovering genetic insights among Palestinian patients.

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Patrick Sung, DPhil, of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the recipient of the 2024 Basser Global Prize. Sung was honored for cutting-edge work in the field of DNA damage repair. He is director of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at UT Health San Antonio, associate dean for research, and professor of biochemistry and structural biology at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio. He received his BSc in biochemistry from the University of Liverpool, his DPhil in biochemistry from the University of Oxford, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Rochester. He also holds the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry, is the recipient of an Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute and is a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Established Investigator. Watch the keynote speaker and 2024 Basser Global Prize Awardee sit down for an interview at the 13th Annual Basser Center Scientific Symposium. 

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Kenneth Offit, MD, MPH, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), is the recipient of the 2023 Basser Global Prize. Offit’s work identified the most common mutation associated with an increased risk of breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer among individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. He also published the first prospective series describing the outcome of preventive ovarian surgery and screening in women at hereditary risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Offit is the Robert and Kate Niehaus Chair in Inherited Cancer Genomics and serves as chief of the Clinical Genetics Service at MSK. He founded one of the first clinical cancer genetics services in 1992 and led the first American Society of Clinical Oncology policy statement after the identification of BRCA1 and BRCA2. His ongoing research includes leading an implementation study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, to pilot digital health dissemination of genomic information. Watch the keynote speaker and 2023 Basser Global Prize Awardee sit down for an interview at the 12th Annual Basser Center Scientific Symposium. 

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Fergus J. Couch, PhD, chair of the division of Experimental Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Mayo Clinic, is the recipient of the 10th annual Basser Global Prize. Dr. Couch’s work includes the study of genetic alterations and their impact on the development of both breast and pancreatic cancer using genomics and cell biological approaches. His key focus areas include identification of hereditary genes and mutations that predispose people to cancer, and improving clinical testing for mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 and other cancer susceptibility genes, to identify individuals at increased risk of cancer, and to improve risk prediction in high-risk patients. Watch the keynote speaker and 2022 Basser Global Prize Awardee sit down for an interview at the 11th Annual Basser Center Scientific Symposium. 

Andre Nussenzweig, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), is the recipient of the 9th annual Basser Global Prize. Dr. Nussenzweig serves as branch chief of the Laboratory of Genome Integrity in the NCI’s Center for Cancer Research. Dr. Nussenzweig’s work on the fundamental aspects of DNA repair, replication, and genome integrity in cells has led to important discoveries that have applications for the development of biomarkers and targeted therapeutics for the treatment of BRCA-mutated cancers. In 2011, Dr. Nussenzweig established a new department at NCI called the Laboratory of Genome Integrity. Watch keynote speaker and 2021 Basser Global Prize Awardee Andre Nussensweig, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) sit down for an interview at the 10th Annual Basser Center Scientific Symposium. 

Bella Kaufman, MD, of Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer, Israel, is the recipient of the 2020 Basser Global Prize Winner. Dr Kaufman is the Director of the Breast Oncology Institute, as well as the President of Sheba Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Sheba Medical Center. She is a founder and leader of the Israeli Consortium for Hereditary Breast Cancer and is an international leader in the breast cancer and BRCA research communities. 

Douglas Easton, PhD, and Antonis Antoniou, PhD, are the recipients of the 2019 annual Basser Global Prize. Easton and Antoniou are both professors in the department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, and members of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre. Easton’s and Antoniou’s research focuses on genetic susceptibility to common cancers with the goal of identifying and characterizing genetic variants associated with cancer risk, with a particular emphasis on hormone-related cancers.

Maria Jasin, PhD, is the recipient of the 2018 annual Basser Global Prize. Jasin is a member of the Developmental Biology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a professor at the Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Cornell University. Jasin’s research has helped define the roles of BRCA1 and BRCA2 in DNA repair. Her discoveries have led to numerous investigative efforts worldwide, resulting in a greater understanding of how cancer develops and in new therapies that can lengthen the lives of cancer patients.

The winner of the 2017 Basser Global Prize is Ashok Venkitaraman, MBBS, PhD, the Ursula Zoellner Professor of Cancer Research and director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cancer Unit at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Venkitaraman’s laboratory discovered that BRCA2 plays a critical role in repairing the human genome, and has been instrumental in showing how mutations in BRCA2 incite genome instability, accelerating cancer development. This work has provided the scientific basis for assessing cancer risk in people who carry different BRCA2 mutations, and for new treatments for cancers arising in these patients.

The winner of the 2016 Basser Global Prize is cancer geneticist Steven Narod, MD, FRCPC, PhD (hon), FRSC, director of the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit and a senior scientist at the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Narod is a world leader in the field of breast and ovarian cancer genetics, who has made significant contributions to the knowledge of how to assess cancer risk and reduce its mortality in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.

The winner of the 2015 Basser Global Prize is Dr. David Livingston, the Emil Frei Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chair of the Executive Committee for Research at Harvard’s Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Livingston has greatly expanded current understanding of how mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 can promote cancer development. His goal is to reduce the number of cells in the breast and ovary of BRCA1 mutation-bearing women that manifest a high potential for becoming malignant. “Our objective is to eliminate them by a relatively non-toxic approach and to ensure that they do not accumulate thereafter,” Livingston explains. “If successful, such an approach has the potential to significantly reduce the likelihood of BRCA1 cancer developing in mutation-bearing women.”

The winner of the 2014 Basser Global Prize was Dr. Mary-Claire King, from the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. King is known worldwide for her major accomplishments in human genetics research and one of her most noteworthy achievements is the identification of the BRCA1 gene. 2014 marked the 20th anniversary of the identification of the gene. “We’re very excited to honor Dr. King’s accomplishments in BRCA-related research, particularly as this year marks twenty years since the initial cloning of the BRCA1 gene,” said Dr. Susan Domchek, MD. “The identification ofBRCA1 was the first critical step in work to improve outcomes for individuals with inherited susceptibility to breast cancer. Supporting research projects that are similarly devoted to the prevention and treatment of BRCA-related cancers is a primary mission of the Basser Center.” 

The winner of the inaugural Basser Global Prize in 2013 was Professor Alan Ashworth, FRS, Chief Executive Office of the Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) in London and head of the Gene Function team in the ICR’s Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre. Professor Ashworth has been a pioneer in efforts to develop therapies to target cancer cells that contain BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. His lab has been instrumental in the development of PARP inhibitor therapy, drugs which have shown great promise in attacking breast, ovarian, and other cancers among individuals who carry BRCA1/2 mutations. His new research explores mechanisms of drug resistance among BRCA carriers, and the possibility of combing other agents with PARP inhibitors to maximize their effectiveness and discover new methods of treatment.