UIowa Doctor Wins 'American Nobel' for Cystic Fibrosis Research

(IOWA CITY, IA) -- A longtime University of Iowa physician, Dr. Michael J. Welsh, has won the 2025 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his life-changing research on cystic fibrosis. The prestigious prize is often called the "American Nobel."

The award recognizes Welsh's foundational research that transformed the understanding of cystic fibrosis. At the beginning of his career, patients with the genetic disorder rarely lived to age 30; therapies developed from his work have now extended life expectancy for many into their 80s.

Welsh's discoveries about a critical protein, CFTR, enabled the development of the drug Trikafta, which now helps manage the disease for about 90-percent of patients. He shares the 250-thousand-dollar honorarium with the two scientists who developed the drug based on his research.