PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley Luminary & Pioneer Awards:

The PMWC Luminary Award honors leaders whose work has scaled, operationalized, or broadly implemented Precision Medicine. These individuals built the infrastructure, systems, or clinical frameworks that turned pioneering ideas into standard practice, accelerating adoption at scale.

The PMWC Pioneer Award recognizes individuals who, through early vision or first-of-its-kind discoveries, set Precision Medicine in motion. These trailblazers introduced transformative ideas or technologies when the field was nascent, laying the foundation for future advances.

Honorees: Pioneer Award

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE, Immunotherapies & Targeted Therapies Track

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE, Immunotherapies & Targeted Therapies Track

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE, Immunotherapies & Targeted Therapies Track

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE, Therapy Guidance & Monitoring Track

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE, Integration & Implementation of Precision Medicine Track

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE, RNA, Stem Cell & Gene-Based Therapies Track

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE, Precision Aging & Longevity Track

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE, Systems Integration & Variant Interpretation Track

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE, RNA, Stem Cell & Gene-Based Therapies Track

PMWC 2026 PIONEER HONOREE NOBEL LAUREATE: Spatial Biology & Single-Cell Multi-Omics Track

Honorees: Luminary Award

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, Advances in Cell & Gene Therapies Track

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, Advances in Cell & Gene Therapies Track

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, AI & Computational Medicine Track

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, Systems Integration & Variant Interpretation Track

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, AI in Clinical Decision Support & RWE Track

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, Integration & Implementation of Precision Medicine Track

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, RNA, Stem Cell & Gene-Based Therapies Track

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, Precision Aging & Longevity Track

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, AI in Drug Discovery & Computational Medicine

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, Precision Aging & Longevity Track

PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, Systems Integration & Variant Interpretation
PMWC 2026 LUMINARY HONOREE, AI in Clinical Decision Support & RWE Track

Date & Agenda

When:

MARCH 4-6*

Where:

Santa Clara Convention Center

Suggested dress:

Business attire

*The PMWC Award Ceremonies (15 minutes long) will be held at the kick-off of each day of the program according to its track.
All attendees are welcome to take part without an RSVP.

Venue

Santa Clara Convention Center
Exhibition Halls A-D
5001 Great America Pkwy
Santa Clara, CA 95054

PARKING 1,500 on-site parking spaces in a 3-story adjacent parking garage (directions) on the Santa Clara Convention Center campus shared with the Hyatt Regency and TechMart. Additional overflow parking may be available in surrounding lots based on availability as well as the City of Santa Clara Garage (directions) across the street.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS FROM SAN JOSE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – 5.4 MILES

Take San Jose International Airport’s Guadalupe Pkwy. Exit. Turn left on Guadalupe Pkwy. Follow onto I-101 North. Follow I-101 North roughly three miles and exit at Great America Pkwy. Turn right onto Great America Pkwy. The Silicon Valley Convention Center is located at Great America Pkwy. and Tasman Ave. You can find the Convention Center Parking Garage by exiting at the Hyatt Regency’s 2nd driveway at Bunker Hill Rd.

FROM SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – 31 MILES

Follow San Francisco International Airport’s exit signs to I-101 South towards San Jose. Take I-101 South roughly 30-40 minutes and exit at Great America Pkwy. Turn left at Great America Pkwy. The Convention Center is at Great America Pkwy. and Tasman Ave. You can find the Silicon Valley Convention Center Parking Garage by exiting Great America Pkwy. at the Hyatt Regency’s 2nd driveway at Bunker Hill Rd.

FROM OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT –33.1 MILES

Exit Oakland International Airport and take Hegenberger Rd. to I-880 South towards San Jose. Take I-880 roughly 30-40 minutes to Highway 237 towards Mountain View. Follow Highway 237 to Great America Pkwy. Exit. Turn left on Great America Pkwy. The Convention Center is at Great America Pkwy. and Tasman Ave. You can find the Convention Center Parking Garage by exiting off Great America Pkwy. at the Hyatt Regency’s 2nd driveway at Bunker Hill Rd.

Select Past Luminary Award Recipients

2025

Carolyn Bertozzi

Nobel Laureate

Stanford
Developer of bioorthogonal chemistry that has significantly advanced the precision of targeted therapies
2025

Jensen Huang

NVIDIA
AI/HPC Champion for Next-Generation Precision Medicine
2025

Crystal Mackall

Stanford
Developed advancements in CAR T-cell therapy, including innovative clinical trials and improved treatment protocols that have significantly enhanced patient outcomes in pediatric oncology
2025

Ida Sim

UCSF
Pioneered health data sharing and integration, co-founded Vivli and Open mHealth, developed CommonHealth, and advanced global trial data sharing and mobile health interoperability
2025

Diana Bianchi

NIH
Pioneer of non-invasive prenatal genetic testing and fetal cell microchimerism research, her leadership in the Human Placenta Project has improved maternal and fetal health outcomes
2024

Heidi Rehm

MGH & Broad Inst.
Markedly improved rare disease diagnosis and testing through enhancement of tools and standards for genomics
2024

Janine A. Clayton

NIH
Advanced women's health through promotion of research inclusion and the study of sex differences
2024

Geoffrey Ginsburg

All of Us / NIH
Pioneered innovative diagnostics and collaborative genotyping and phenotyping through national initiatives
2024

Catriona Jamieson

UCSD Health
Advanced innovative patient therapies including the development of the JAK inhibitor, fedratinib
2023

Gad Getz

Broad Institute
Pioneering widely used tools for analyzing cancer genomes
2022

ALBERT BOURLA

Pfizer
Led a coronavirus vaccine and antiviral drug development in record time
2022

STEPHEN HOGE

Moderna
Oversaw R&D of the first antiviral synthetic mRNA vaccines ever created as well as the one against COVID-19
2022

STEPHEN KINGSMORE

Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine®
Leader in neonatal molecular diagnosis using rapid Whole Genome Sequencing™
2021

UGUR SAHIN

BioNTech
Co-developer of one of the leading COVID-19 vaccines
2021

ÖZLEM TÜRECI

BioNTech
Co-developer of one of the leading COVID-19 vaccines
2020

PHILIP GREENBERG​

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Discoveries led to adoptive immunotherapy with genetically engineered T cells
2019

FENG ZHANG

Broad Institute
Neurobiologist who led the development of optogenetics and CRISPR
2019

CARL JUNE

University of Pennsylvania
Developed CAR-T therapy, the world’s first gene-based cancer therapy
2018

EMMANUELLE CHARPENTIER

Nobel Laureate

Umeå University
Pioneered the CRISPR-CAS9 Genome Editing Technology
2018

JAMES ALLISON

Nobel Laureate

MD Anderson Cancer Center
Pioneered Cancer Immunotherapy Through Discovery of the Immune Checkpoint Blockade
2017

JENNIFER DOUDNA

Nobel Laureate

University of California, Berkeley
Pioneered the Groundbreaking Crispr-Cas9 Genome Editing Technology
2016

LAURA ESSERMAN

UCSF
Breast Cancer Treatment Paradigm Shifter
2015

RON DAVIS

Stanford University
Developed R-loop Technique of Electron Microscopy
2014

JAY FLATLEY

Illumina
Established Illumina as the leader in sequence technology
2013

JANET WOODCOCK​

FDA
FDA Director, fast-tracked targeted drugs through FDA approval
2012

BRIAN DRUKER

OHSU
Co-inventor, blockbuster drug, Gleevec
2011

GEORGE CHURCH

Human Genome Project
Contributions to the sequencing of genomes and interpreting such data; In Neuroscience he established a “functional connectome”
2010

LEE HOOD

Providence Health
Inventions included the automated DNA sequencer and a tool for synthesizing DNA
2021

JULIE A. JOHNSON

University of Florida
Early leader in pharmacogenomics discovery research and its clinical implementation
2018

JEFFREY I. GORDON

Washington University in St. Louis
Pioneered the study of gut microbial ecology and evolution and today addresses the global challenges of obesity and undernutrition
2017

FRANCIS S. COLLINS

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Advancing Precision Medicine by Leading Sequencing of the Human Genome and Other Major Government Initiatives
2017

ELAINE R. MARDIS

Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Sequencing Technologies Visionary and Leader in Genomics and Cancer Genomics
2017

KEITH R. YAMAMOTO

UCSF
Conception, Implementation and Advocacy for Precision Medicine
2018

ERIC TOPOL

Scripps Research Institute
Pioneered genetics and genomics in cardiovascular medicine and led the era of wireless medicine
2018

MARY V. RELLING

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Pioneered and advocate for pharmacogenomic personalized medicine

Select Past Pioneer Award Recipients

2025

Drew Weissman

Nobel Laureate

Penn Medicine
Developer of mRNA technology that revolutionized vaccine development and gene therapy
2025

Collen Masimirembwa

African Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology
Contributions to pharmacogenomics, in understanding genetic factors affecting drug response in diverse populations
2025

Julie Louise Gerberding

FNIH
Pioneered precision medicine at CDC, Merck, and FNIH
2025

Robert M Califf

FDA Commissioner
Twice FDA Commissioner, advanced precision medicine, held key academic and industry roles, and drove pivotal regulatory reforms
2025

Victor Velculescu

Johns Hopkins
Pioneering ctDNA analysis for liquid biopsies: Revolutionizing cancer detection and personalized medicine
2025

Michael Snyder

Stanford
Transformative work in genomics and wearable biosensors, catalyzing a shift towards predictive medicine
2025

Paul Chang

U. of Chicago
Pioneered dynamic transfer syntax (DTS) and led Stentor PACS, transforming digital imaging and integrating AI into radiology to advance precision medicine
2025

Isaac Kohane

Harvard
Contributions to precision medicine using EHRs and data science to enable personalized treatments
2024

david page

MIT
Pioneered sex chromosome biology, elucidating the unique properties of Y chromosome and genetic basis of sex differences in health and reproduction
2024

Andrea Gaedigk

Children’s Mercy Research Institute
Significantly advanced pharmacogenomics through groundbreaking CYP2D6 research and development of the Activity Score to improve clinical predictions for precision therapeutics
2024

Atul Butte

UCSF
A pioneer in precision medicine, harnessing large-scale biomedical data to uncover new insights, enable drug repurposing, discover biomarkers, stratify patients, and transform clinical decision support
2024

George Coukos

Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
Pioneering work in cancer immunotherapy, including the development of adoptive T cell therapies for solid tumors and groundbreaking cancer vaccine trials
2024

Timothy Yu

Boston Children's Hospital
Impactful contributions to Gene Therapy field for his groundbreaking work in developing personalized gene therapies for individuals with rare genetic disorders
2024

Stanley Riddell

Fred Hutchinson
Groundbreaking Work in Cancer Immunotherapy and the Development of T Cell Receptor (TCR) Therapies for Various Cancers
2023

LUIS DIAZ

MSKCC
Assistant in pioneering the application of circulating tumor DNA as a cancer diagnostic and a strategy for monitoring emergence of therapeutic resistance in the blood
2023

Razelle Kurzrock

Medical College of Wisconsin
Pioneering precision medicine clinical trials & studies in the US and around the world, and the use of liquid biopsy to predict immunotherapy
2022

JENNIFER PUCK

UCSF
Developed newborn screening test for severe combined immunodeficiency
2021

KATALIN KARIKÓ​

Nobel Laureate

University of Pennsylvania
Co-developed synthetic mRNA technology enabling the first two FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines
2020

BROOK BYERS

Kleiner Perkins
Enabled precision medicine through the venture backing of companies that entered the field early and through his mentorship of their founders
2018

RONALD LEVY

Stanford University School of Medicine
Pioneered the concept of antibodies being used as personalized anticancer drugs
2018

SIR JOHN BELL​

Oxford University
Leading Genetic and Genomic Research Initiatives that Enable Precision Medicine in the UK and Globally
2018

ALAN ASHWORTH

UCSF
Co-discovered the BRCA2 gene mutation and made discoveries leading to PARP inhibition in breast and other cancers
2017

STEVE QUAKE

Stanford University
Steve Quake has pioneered innovative approaches to biological measurement
2016

IRV WEISSMAN

Stanford School of Medicine
Pioneer in Regenerative Medicine & Cancer Stem Cells
2016

RALPH SNYDERMAN​

Duke University
Widely recognized as “Father of Personalized Medicine”
2015

CRAIG VENTER

J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI)
1st Draft Human Gen., 1st Complete Diploid Human Gen., and 1st Synth. Bact. Cell
2015

DENNIS LO

Chinese Uni. of HK
Discovered That An Unborn Fetus Releases Fetal DNA Into Maternal Plasma
2014

YUET WAIN KAN​

UCSF
The first to establish that a single DNA mutation could lead to a human disease, and the first to diagnose a human disease by using DNA
2018

MICHAEL BOEHNKE

University of Michigan
Pioneered large-scale studies identifying genetic risk in diabetes and Bipolar Disorder
2017

KATHY GIUSTI

Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
Pioneer in Business Leadership to Advance Life-Saving Therapies and Institutional Collaboration
2017

MARK LEVIN

Third Rock Ventures
Advances Personalized Medicine Through His Business, Science and Policy Acumen
2014

MICHAEL HAYDEN

Teva Pharmaceuticals
Developer, First Predictive Test for Huntington’s Disease
2013

KIM POPOVITS

Genomic Health
Launched both earliest genetically-targeted therapy and molecular diagnostic assay
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