DMM Seminars 2026 Pezcoller-AACR award lecture - Douglas Lowy and John Schiller

07.05.2026

You are cordially invited to the traditional Pezcoller-AACR award lecture in Padua, recognizing scientists that provided outstanding achievements in cancer research. The lecture will be next Thursday, May 7, at 12.00, aula Magna Vallisneri.
The Winners of this year are Drs. Douglas Lowy and John Schiller, both from NCI.
Close collaborators for more than 30 years, Lowy and Schiller developed the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that protects against cervical cancer and other HPV-induced cancers. The HPV vaccine is the first vaccine developed specifically for cancer prevention.
Theirs has been an epic of science and a paradigm of what patient, visionary research can achieve when curiosity and purpose move in lockstep across decades.
In addition to making the key scientific discoveries underpinning the current HPV virus-like particle vaccine, Lowy and Schiller showed that the vaccine was effective in animals; developed the serological assays needed for vaccine development and characterization; identified the vaccine's salient immune responses; demonstrated its safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy in humans; and determined its in vivo mechanism of action. Infection by certain HPV types causes nearly all  HPV-induced cancers account for roughly >350,000 deaths each year just considering cervical cancer. An estimated 1 million future HPV-induced cancers have already been prevented. If further implemented globally, Lowy and Schiller's vaccine could prevent nearly all cases of cervical cancer and other HPV-induced cancers.
Together, Lowy and Schiller have received many scientific honors and awards recognizing their discoveries, including the Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award in 2017; the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, awarded by President Barack Obama in 2014; and the Federal Employee of the Year Service to America Medal from the Partnership for Public Service in 2007.