Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has been awarded a 2021 Dan David Prize. The internationally renowned prize, headquartered at Tel Aviv University (TAU), annually awards three prizes of $1 million each to globally inspiring individuals and organizations.

The Prize honors outstanding contributions that expand knowledge of the past, enrich society in the present, and promise to improve the future of our world. The total purse of $3 million also makes this one of the highest-valued awards internationally.

“The coronavirus pandemic has presented humanity with new challenges,” said Professor Ariel Porat, President of TAU and Chairperson of the Dan David Prize Board. “Therefore, this year, we decided to honor the fields at the forefront of the battle against the virus — health and medicine. International review committees selected this year’s laureates for their pioneering work and their exceptional contributions to humanity in these fields in three time dimensions: past, present, and future.”

Dr. Fauci will receive the award as the winner of the “Present Category” of Public Health. Other 2021 laureates include health and medicine historians Professor Alison Bashford, Professor Katharine Park, and Professor Keith Wailoo for their work in the “Past Category” of the History of Health and Medicine; and anti-cancer immunotherapy pioneers Professor Zelig Eshhar, Professor Carl June, and Dr. Steven Rosenberg in the “Future Category” of Molecular Medicine.

The seven laureates will be honored at the 2021 Dan David Prize Award Ceremony, to be held in a special online event in May 2021.

For more information about this year’s laureates, visit the Dan David Prize web site.

ABOUT THE DAN DAVID PRIZE

The Dan David Prize was established by the late Dan David, an international businessman and philanthropist whose vision is the driving force behind the international Dan David Prize. His aim was to reward those who have made a lasting impact on society and to help young students and entrepreneurs become the scholars and leaders of the future.

Previous Dan David Prize laureates include cellist Yo-Yo Ma (2006); former US Vice President Al Gore (2008); novelist Margaret Atwood (2010); filmmakers Ethan and Joel Coen (2011); distinguished economist and recent Nobel Laureate, Esther Duflo (2013); and artificial intelligence researcher, neuroscientist, and entrepreneur Dr. Demis Hassabis (2020).

The laureates donate 10% of their award money to scholarships for graduate or post-graduate researchers in their respective fields at TAU.