North Bethesda, Md. — The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health said it will award the Montrone-Seigel Prize in Biomedical Sciences to molecular biologist Shingo Kajimura, PhD.
The FNIH said Kajimura and his team discovered a key biological pathway that helps the body maintain metabolic health, a finding that could lead to new ways to prevent or treat obesity, diabetes and cardiometabolic disorders.
“Dr. Kajimura is exactly the kind of exceptional scientist this prize was created to recognize and support,” said Fred Seigel, a member of the FNIH Board of Directors who established the award with Paul Montrone, PhD, director emeritus of the FNIH Board. “His research has overturned long-held assumptions about metabolic regulation and reflects the bold thinking that drives real breakthroughs in human health.”
Kajimura’s research focuses on bioenergetics, or how the body makes, uses and balances energy. As part of that work, he and his team made a discovery about brown fat, which had long been thought to generate heat by burning calories.
The team found that brown fat plays an important role in metabolic health, including blood sugar regulation, fat metabolism, insulin sensitivity and protection against metabolic disease. His work also revealed previously unrecognized molecular pathways that control these processes.
Kajimura and his colleagues are working to identify and potentially correct molecular defects responsible for impaired energy metabolism. The FNIH said the research has broad implications for metabolic disorders, certain cancers and aging and could lead to new approaches to prevent and treat disease.
“I am truly honored to receive the Montrone-Seigel Prize, which also belongs to the talented fellows, students, and collaborators who have worked with me over the years,” Dr. Kajimura said. “I am profoundly grateful to Paul Montrone, Fred Seigel, and FNIH for their extraordinary generosity and for recognizing curiosity-driven science that can open new frontiers in improving human health.”
Kajimura is a Harvard Medical School professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and an associate member of the Broad Institute. He is also co-director of the Post-Baccalaureate Program in Diabetes & Metabolism Research with BIDMC and Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.
The Montrone-Seigel Prize includes a $100,000 honorarium and recognizes scientists whose basic, clinical or translational research programs show promise for breakthroughs that advance human health and well-being.
The FNIH said Kajimura was selected by a jury of biomedical research leaders co-chaired by Carl Nathan, MD, R.A. Rees Pritchett Professor and chairman emeritus of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Cynthia Wolberger, PhD, professor and director of the Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Kajimura will receive the award at the FNIH Celebration of Science: 14th Annual FNIH Awards Ceremony on Oct. 28, 2026, in Washington, D.C. The 2026 Paul-Gallin Trailblazer Prize for Physician-Scientists, the Charles A. Sanders, MD, Partnership Award, and the Kovler Prize for Trust in Life Science Journalism also will be presented during the ceremony.
