2025
Warren Alpert Foundation Prize

Each year the recipient(s) of the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize are recognized at a scientific symposium hosted by Harvard Medical School.

October 30, 2025 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm

Cracking the Capsid: Lenacapavir and the Next Chapter in HIV Treatment

The Warren Alpert Foundation and Harvard Medical School invite you to our annual scientific symposium, recognizing three scientists whose discoveries led to lenacapavir — a groundbreaking medication that offers new hope for preventing and treating HIV and accelerating the end of the epidemic.

Tomas Cihlar

Tomas Cihlar | 2025 Recipient

Tomas Cihlar, PhD is a Senior Vice President of Research at Gilead overseeing drug discovery and preclinical research in virology. He joined Gilead three decades ago after obtaining his PhD in biochemistry from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Prague, Czech Republic. Over the years, Dr Cihlar has contributed to the discovery, development and regulatory approval of multiple antiviral products including an extensive portfolio of Gilead’s innovative HIV drugs and their combinations. Together with his colleagues at Gilead he established broad research programs focused on novel long-acting drugs for treatment and prevention of HIV, new approaches for the cure of HIV and viral hepatitis, as well as treatment of respiratory and emerging viral infections. Dr Cihlar played key roles in the discovery and development of lenacapavir, the first long-acting HIV capsid inhibitor, and remdesivir that was approved by US FDA as the first antiviral drug for the treatment of COVID-19. Dr Cihlar is serving on boards of directors of several organizations including the Intrepid Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness, Global Virus Network, and Assembly Biosciences.

John Link

John Link | 2025 Recipient

John O. Link, PhD, was Vice President, Medicinal Chemistry at Gilead Sciences from 2006-2020, where he led a group of research chemists working in antiviral and anti-inflammatory programs.

 

Dr. Link is a co-inventor of four approved drugs discovered in his research group: the curative hepatitis C drugs ledipasvir (NS5A inhibitor), velpatasvir (pan-genotypic NS5A inhibitor), and voxilaprevir (pan-genotypic NS3/4A protease inhibitor), which are components in Harvoni®, Epclusa® and Vosevi®, and the HIV capsid inhibitor lenacapavir (Sunlenca®). He was the discovery-stage and Phase 1 development project leader for the ledipasvir and velpatasvir programs and an early research project leader for the lenacapavir program. Harvoni® was the first approved interferon-free regimen to cure the most prevalent HCV genotype. Millions of individuals worldwide have been cured with these HCV medications. Lenacapavir, a new antiviral modality, is the only approved drug targeting a viral capsid. Further, lenacapavir is the only twice-yearly dosed medication for HIV treatment and, if approved, for HIV prevention. Prior to Gilead, Dr. Link was a chemist with increasing leadership roles at Syntex/Roche and Arris/Celera and is presently a Scientific Advisor at Actio Biosciences and SAB member at Terremoto Biosciences. Throughout John’s career he has sought to discover ultrapotent medications with extremely high levels of resilience to metabolism in the liver while fostering a collaborative environment where all voices are heard, and where each chemist and team member is empowered to contribute creatively.

 

John attended public elementary and high-school, received his BA in chemistry from the University of Minnesota, and his PhD in Organic Chemistry working in the laboratory of Professor EJ Corey at Harvard University where they co-discovered the Corey-Link Reaction.

Dr. Link was awarded the American Chemical Society’s 2015 Heroes of Chemistry for his contributions to the discovery of Harvoni®, the 2017 inaugural Male Ally Award from the Women at Gilead employee resource group, and the Chinese American Biopharmaceutical Society’s 2021 K. Fong Award in Life Sciences and is an author on over 30 publications and an inventor on over 70 patents.

Wesley Sundquist

Wesley Sundquist | 2025 Recipient

Wes Sundquist is Samuels Distinguished Professor and Chair of Biochemistry at the University of Utah. He received a BA degree in Chemistry from Carleton College, a PhD in Chemistry from MIT, and then did postdoctoral research with Sir Aaron Klug at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. His research interests stem from the lab’s work on HIV assembly and replication, and include the biochemistry and cell biology of the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) pathway, and the structure, functions, and inhibition of the HIV capsid. He is a recipient of the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biochemistry (with Emr) and the University of Utah Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence, and has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2011) and the National Academy of Sciences (2024). Wes and his wife Nola have two adult children, Chris and Emily.

Join Us

Thursday, October 30th

2:00 pm to 5:30 pm

Joseph B. Martin Conference Center Harvard Medical School 
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur

Open to the Public. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.

Symposium Program

Each year the recipient(s) of the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize are recognized at a scientific symposium hosted by Harvard Medical School.

Opening Remarks

George Q. Daley, MD, PhD

Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Harvard University, Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine

Bruce Walker, MD

Director, Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard

Award Lectures

Tomas Cihlar, PhD

Senior Vice President of Research, Gilead Sciences

John Link, PhD

Vice President, Medicinal Chemistry, Gilead Sciences (Retd.) Scientific Advisor, Actio Biosciences SAB member, Terremoto Biosciences

Wesley Sundquist, PhD

Professor and Chair of Biochemistry, University of Utah

Invited Speakers

Linda-Gail Bekker, MD, PhD

Professor and Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, University of Cape Town and Chief Executive Officer of the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, South Africa

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Past Symposia

For questions about the prize, please contact us.

Contact Us
This award recognizes the remarkable path from the discovery of the CF gene to the development of therapies that treat the cause of CF. It has been a privilege for me to be part of this journey and I am honored to receive the Alpert Award with such accomplished scientists and physicians as Drs. Collins, Tsui, Welsh and Ramsey. I am also humbled and grateful to represent the amazing team that discovered and brought these medicines to patients. This award is meaningful for all of us because it acknowledges that our work over the past 20 years has had a positive impact on people with CF and their families.
- Paul Negulescu

Paul Negulescu | 2018 Recipient

Dr. Negulescu received both his B.S. and Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in Physiology and carried out post-doctoral work at U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Irvine in the areas of epithelial biology, biophysics and immunology.

Following post-doctoral work, Paul joined Aurora Biosciences, a San Diego Company whose founders included Roger Tsien, in 1996. Paul joined as one of the first employees and grew with the Company to become Senior Vice President of Discovery Biology.  Paul began working on cystic fibrosis while at Aurora and played an important role in establishing the foundation of a more than 20-year journey in CF research and drug discovery.

When Vertex acquired Aurora in 2001, Paul was responsible for integrating Aurora’s research into Vertex, including transitioning the CF Program to Vertex.  Since 2003, Paul has led the Vertex San Diego research site. During that time the San Diego team has discovered over 10 novel compounds, including the first CFTR modulators to enter clinical development. Three of these compounds, ivacaftor, lumacaftor and tezacaftor are the only approved medicines to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis.  Additional compounds are currently in clinical development that could treat up to 90% of people with CF.

 View Past Recipients