The finalists
Ten universities. Ten projects. Ten academics.
Tony Mok
Some lung cancers are driven by a single identifiable genetic change, which makes precise diagnosis the gateway to precise treatment. This clinical practice guideline covers oncogene-addicted metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer, setting out recommended approaches to diagnosis, treatment and follow-up for the clinicians who manage the disease.
Alejandro B. Balazs
Multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants escape neutralization by vaccine-induced humoral immunity
Vaccines work by teaching the immune system to recognise a virus, and viruses change. This study examines several SARS-CoV-2 variants that escape neutralisation by the antibody response raised through vaccination, an observation with direct consequences for how vaccine protection is understood and monitored.
Ara Darzi
Professor the Lord Darzi co-directs Imperial's Institute of Global Health Innovation and researches surgical innovation and digital health. He is a senior author of the STARD-AI protocol in BMJ Open, an international collaborative effort to develop a reporting guideline for diagnostic test accuracy studies centred on artificial intelligence.
Susanna C. Larsson
Epidemiology of sarcopenia: Prevalence, risk factors, and consequences
Muscle mass and strength decline with age, and when that decline becomes sarcopenia it carries real consequences. Reviewing published meta-analyses, this study finds that roughly 10 to 16 per cent of older people worldwide are affected, with much higher rates among patients, from about 18 per cent in diabetes to 66 per cent in unresectable oesophageal cancer, and links the condition to poorer survival and surgical outcomes.
Geltrude Mingrone
Convened by the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the panel updates consensus guidance on managing high blood glucose in adults with type 2 diabetes. The new recommendations give greater attention to social determinants of health, physical activity and sleep, weight management as part of holistic care, and evidence from cardiovascular and kidney outcome trials of newer drug classes.
Ludo Van Den Bosch
Hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases
Setting out the hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases, the work offers a framework for understanding conditions in which nerve cells progressively deteriorate. By identifying features shared across these diseases, the study gives researchers a common structure for thinking about how they arise and how they might be tackled.
Darren Shu Jeng Ting
Large language models in medicine
Large language models entered clinical conversation faster than the evidence about them accumulated. This work considers what such systems mean for medicine, where they might realistically help, and what questions need answering before they are relied on in the care of patients.
Mark Emberton
Professor Emberton pioneered precision diagnosis and focal therapy for prostate cancer and serves as Dean of UCL's Faculty of Medical Sciences. He co-authored a multi-institution Science review on the early detection of cancer, setting out how earlier diagnosis across tumour types could transform outcomes and guide future research priorities.
Carol Brayne
Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission
The work presents the 2024 report of a standing commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care. Spanning the full arc of the condition, from reducing risk to treatment and the care of people living with dementia, it consolidates current evidence to inform practice and policy.
Martin Landray
Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19 (RECOVERY Collaborative Group)
Professor Sir Martin Landray designs and leads efficient large scale randomised trials at Oxford Population Health and co-led the RECOVERY trial. He is a co-author of the RECOVERY Collaborative Group report in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that dexamethasone reduces mortality in hospitalised COVID-19 patients receiving respiratory support.
Exclusive to partners
The Subject Awards are open to partner universities.
Partners verify their data, feature their academics, and are eligible for the Subject Awards. Finalists are identified from open data; winners are decided by our editorial team and announced on 15 September 2026.
Explore partnership →The wider slate
Fifteen more candidate partnerships behind the finalists.
Surviving sepsis campaign: international guidelines for management of sepsis and septic shock 2021
The 2021 WHO Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System: a summary