Professor Daniel Andersen has been awarded the 2023 Wilhelm Exner Medal by the Austrian Industry Association for excellence in research and science since 1921. Anderson will receive the award during the Wilhelm Exner Medal Foundation Exner Lectures on May 22-23 in Vienna, Austria.
“Professor Anderson changed our world,” said Elazer R. Edelman, the Edward J. Poitras Professor of Medical Engineering and Science and director of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES). “He created devices, and even concepts, that shaped the thinking of many and led to new treatments. We are honored to have him as a member of our faculty, and we join the international community in celebrating this award.”
“The Exner Medal embodies one of the goals of chemical engineering: to be able to take the successes of the laboratory into the world, improving lives and the environment,” shared Paula T. Hammond, professor in the Institute of Engineering and chair of the Department of Chemistry at MIT. “Dan’s innate ability to connect his innovative research with entrepreneurial achievements has helped bring life-saving treatments to people around the world. He is deeply deserving of this prestigious recognition.”
Anderson is a professor of chemical engineering and a core member of IMES, the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program. He is a leading researcher in the fields of nanotherapeutics and biomaterials and has pioneered the development of smart materials.
Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a PhD in molecular genetics from the University of California, Davis. Anderson’s work has driven advances in a range of fields, including medical devices, cell therapies, drug delivery, gene therapy and materials science, and has resulted in more than 500 publications, patents and patent applications. He founded several companies, including Living Proof, Olivo Labs, Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP), Sigilon Therapeutics, Verseau Therapeutics, Orna and VasoRx. He recently received a $25 million grant from Sanofi to advance his RNA research.
Anderson’s Exner Lecture will discuss how medical devices can have a profound impact on human health, including in vivo medical devices and the wide range of potential uses of nanoparticles and RNA in human therapeutics.
Previous recipients of the William Exner Medal include MIT faculty members Edward Boyden (2020) and Robert Lange (2012).