The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) will award the 2025 Charles A. Sanders, MD, Partnership Award to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc./Alexandria Venture Investments and the Goldenberg Family Foundation. The Partnership Award recognizes persons or organizations that have made significant contributions to the FNIH’s work in support of the mission of the NIH.

“The FNIH builds powerful cross-sector partnerships to tackle complex medical challenges that can’t be addressed effectively by any single organization or company. This year’s awardees are key to that effort,” said FNIH President and CEO Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH. “We are deeply grateful for their generous commitment to team science and investment in the future of biomedical research.”

NCATS, one of the NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers, has partnered with the FNIH on various public-private projects. NCATS is the NIH lead for the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® (AMP®) Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium, which aims to streamline manufacturing and pre-clinical testing for gene therapies for rare diseases. It played a critical role in the 2020 launch and execution of the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines program, which helped identify treatments for COVID. NCATS participates in several AMP programs as well as the Biomarkers Consortium and design phase projects focusing on development of regulatory approval for pediatric medical devices, new approach methodologies (NAMs) and drugs for ultra-rare cancers.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc./Alexandria Venture Investments helped catalyze the FNIH’s public-private partnership focused on the development of biomarkers for major depressive disorder to address the urgent need for new medicines for neuropsychology. The company continues to play a pivotal role in identifying partners and securing funding, which will be critical to the advancement of the MAP-D: Multi-Level Assessment & Phenotyping in Depression program. Alexandria was an Innovator Sponsor of the inaugural FNIH Team Science Day, a celebration of team science and its role in solving complex biomedical challenges, held at the Alexandria Center® for Life Science – New York City.

The Goldenberg Family Foundation, led by pioneering cancer researcher and entrepreneur David M. Goldenberg, ScD, MD, and his son, Neil Goldenberg, MD, PhD, associate dean for research at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, has generously invested in the pipeline of talented biomedical researchers. The Foundation funds educational programs at the NIH Office of Intramural Training and Education that provide unique learning opportunities for high school and postbaccalaureate students who are interested in pursuing careers in healthcare and biomedical research. The Foundation also provided a new $2.5 million gift to support neuroscience research awards through the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative at the NIH.

The Charles A. Sanders, MD, Partnership Award is named for the founding Chairman of the FNIH Board of Directors. The recipients will be awarded at the 13th Annual FNIH Awards Ceremony on the evening of Oct. 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C. The 2025 Paul-Gallin Trailblazer Prize for Physician-Scientists, the Kovler Prize for Trust in Life Science Journalism, and the inaugural Montrone-Seigel Prize in Biomedical Sciences also will be presented.

The FNIH gratefully acknowledges its Annual Awards Ceremony Premier Sponsors, Fred and Donna Seigel and Mr. Perry Steiner and Ms. Vanessa Kay, and Visionary Sponsor, Pfizer, Inc.

For more information about the Partnership Award, click here.

About the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health

The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) builds public-private partnerships that connect leading biomedical scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with their counterparts in life sciences companies, academia, patient organizations, foundations, and regulatory agencies (including the Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency). Through team science, the FNIH solves complex health challenges and accelerates breakthroughs for patients, regardless of who they are or what health threats they face. The FNIH contributes to the development of new therapies, diagnostics, and potential cures; advances global health; and helps train the next generations of scientists. Established by Congress in 1990 to support the mission of the NIH, the FNIH is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For more information about the FNIH, please visit fnih.org.

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"We are deeply grateful for their generous commitment to team science and investment in the future of biomedical research.”— Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH