Megan Sykes, United States

Dr. Sykes is the Michael J. Friedlander Professor of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Surgical Sciences (in Surgery), Columbia University. Dr. Sykes is the founding Director of the Columbia Center for Translational Immunology and serves as Director of Research for the Transplant Initiative and as Director of Bone Marrow Transplantation Research at Columbia. Dr. Sykes joined Columbia University in April, 2010 from Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where she was the Harold and Ellen Danser Professor of Surgery and Professor of Medicine (Immunology) and Associate Director of the Transplantation Biology Research Center.  Dr. Sykes has over 40 years’ experience in transplantation biology and Type 1 diabetes research, including translational research from animals to clinical trials and mechanistic studies of human transplant recipients.  She is Past President of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) and of the International Xenotransplantation Association.  Dr. Sykes received numerous honors and awards, including the Medawar Prize in 2018, membership in the National Academy of Medicine and the Association of American Physicians. She was awarded the Barry Prize by the American Academy of Sciences and Letters in 2024 and the 2025 Thomas E. Starzl Prize in Surgery & Immunology.