The CERF Medical Prize is led by Dr. Merit Cudkowicz of Massachusetts General Hospital

The Cullen Education & Research Foundation is delighted to be able to work with such an esteemed neurologist for the CERF Medical Prizes.

Dr. Merit Cudkowicz

Dr. Merit Cudkowicz is the Chair of Department of Neurology and Director of the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Mass General, and the Julieanne Dorn Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Cudkowicz’s research and clinical activities are dedicated to the study and treatment of people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Dr. Cudkowicz is one of the founders and past Co-Chairs of the Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS), a group of over 134 clinical sites in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Middle East dedicated to performing collaborative clinical trials and research in ALS. She has brought innovations to accelerate the development of treatments for people with ALS, including senior role in first antisense oligonucleotide treatment for a neurological disorder (SOD1 ALS), adaptive trial designs, central IRB - all with goal to bring the best treatments rapidly.  Dr. Cudkowicz is launching the first platform trial initiative in ALS, the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial, a program that will greatly accelerate therapy development in ALS.

As Principal Investigator of the Clinical Coordination Center for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s Neurology Network of Excellence in Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT), Dr. Cudkowicz mentors neurologists in the conduct and design of clinical trials.
In 2009, Dr. Cudkowicz received the American Academy of Neurology Sheila Essay ALS award. She also received the 2017 Forbes Norris Award from the International MND Alliance, the 2017 Pinnacle Award from the Boston Chamber of Commerce and the 2019 Ray Adams American Neurological Association Award. Dr. Cudkowicz completed her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and obtained a medical degree in the Health Science and Technology program of Harvard Medical School. She obtained a master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She served her neurology residency and fellowship at MGH.

 The Judging Panel

The CERF Committee were honoured by the caliber of professionals who came on board this project to assess the entries to the competition and decide on winners for the CERF Prize. The CERF Judging panel was comprised of medical doctors, scientists and biologists and engineers working in both research and clinical settings in various places around the globe.