Drew Weissman

Drew Weissman (born September 7, 1959) is an American immunologist and physician-scientist renowned for co-developing the nucleoside-modified messenger RNA (mRNA) platform that overcame innate immune recognition barriers, enabling the production of stable, non-inflammatory mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. He serves as the Roberts Family Professor of Vaccine Research in the Department of Medicine and as director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Weissman received his MD and PhD degrees from Boston University in 1987, followed by clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases. In collaboration with Katalin Karikó, his foundational research demonstrated that incorporating modified nucleosides such as pseudouridine into mRNA prevents activation of toll-like receptors and other immune sensors that trigger inflammatory responses, thereby allowing mRNA to instruct cells to produce antigens without toxicity—a breakthrough that underpinned the rapid deployment of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. For these discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled effective mRNA vaccines, Weissman and Karikó were jointly awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Drew Weissman was born on September 7, 1959, in Lexington, Massachusetts, to a Jewish father and Italian mother. Although his mother did not convert to Judaism, the family maintained Jewish holiday observances at home, within a close-knit household that prioritized education as a pathway to opportunity. This stable suburban setting in Lexington provided a supportive environment for childhood development, free from the disruptions that might hinder focused pursuits.