Cracking the Capsid: Lenacapavir and the Next Chapter in HIV Treatment and Prevention

Each year the recipient(s) of the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize are recognized at a scientific symposium hosted by Harvard Medical School.

2025 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize Symposium

The Warren Alpert Foundation and Harvard Medical School invite you to our annual scientific symposium, recognizing three scientists whose discoveries led to lenacapavir — a groundbreaking medication that offers new hope for preventing and treating HIV and accelerating the end of the epidemic.

Tomas Cihlar

Tomas Cihlar | 2025 Recipient

Tomas Cihlar, PhD is a Senior Vice President of Research at Gilead overseeing drug discovery and preclinical research in virology. He joined Gilead three decades ago after obtaining his PhD in biochemistry from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Prague, Czech Republic. Over the years, Dr Cihlar has contributed to the discovery, development and regulatory approval of multiple antiviral products including an extensive portfolio of Gilead’s innovative HIV drugs and their combinations. Together with his colleagues at Gilead he established broad research programs focused on novel long-acting drugs for treatment and prevention of HIV, new approaches for the cure of HIV and viral hepatitis, as well as treatment of respiratory and emerging viral infections. Dr Cihlar played key roles in the discovery and development of lenacapavir, the first long-acting HIV capsid inhibitor, and remdesivir that was approved by US FDA as the first antiviral drug for the treatment of COVID-19. Dr Cihlar is serving on boards of directors of several organizations including the Intrepid Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness, Global Virus Network, and Assembly Biosciences.

John Link

John Link | 2025 Recipient

John O. Link, PhD, was Vice President, Medicinal Chemistry at Gilead Sciences from 2006-2020, where he led a group of research chemists working in antiviral and anti-inflammatory programs.

 

Dr. Link is a co-inventor of four approved drugs discovered in his research group: the curative hepatitis C drugs ledipasvir (NS5A inhibitor), velpatasvir (pan-genotypic NS5A inhibitor), and voxilaprevir (pan-genotypic NS3/4A protease inhibitor), which are components in Harvoni®, Epclusa® and Vosevi®, and the HIV capsid inhibitor lenacapavir (Sunlenca®). He was the discovery-stage and Phase 1 development project leader for the ledipasvir and velpatasvir programs and an early research project leader for the lenacapavir program. Harvoni® was the first approved interferon-free regimen to cure the most prevalent HCV genotype. Millions of individuals worldwide have been cured with these HCV medications. Lenacapavir, a new antiviral modality, is the only approved drug targeting a viral capsid. Further, lenacapavir is the only twice-yearly dosed medication for HIV treatment and, if approved, for HIV prevention. Prior to Gilead, Dr. Link was a chemist with increasing leadership roles at Syntex/Roche and Arris/Celera and is presently a Scientific Advisor at Actio Biosciences and SAB member at Terremoto Biosciences. Throughout John’s career he has sought to discover ultrapotent medications with extremely high levels of resilience to metabolism in the liver while fostering a collaborative environment where all voices are heard, and where each chemist and team member is empowered to contribute creatively.

 

John attended public elementary and high-school, received his BA in chemistry from the University of Minnesota, and his PhD in Organic Chemistry working in the laboratory of Professor EJ Corey at Harvard University where they co-discovered the Corey-Link Reaction.

Dr. Link was awarded the American Chemical Society’s 2015 Heroes of Chemistry for his contributions to the discovery of Harvoni®, the 2017 inaugural Male Ally Award from the Women at Gilead employee resource group, and the Chinese American Biopharmaceutical Society’s 2021 K. Fong Award in Life Sciences and is an author on over 30 publications and an inventor on over 70 patents.

Wesley Sundquist

Wesley Sundquist | 2025 Recipient

Wes Sundquist is the Samuels Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine. He received a BA in chemistry from Carleton College, a PhD in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and did postdoctoral research with Sir Aaron Klug at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. His research interests stem from the lab’s work on HIV assembly and replication. He and his collaborators defined the architecture and functions of the HIV capsid and demonstrated that the capsid could be a druggable target, supporting the development of Lenacapavir by Gilead Sciences. His lab also studies the virology, biochemistry and cell biology of the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) pathway, and they showed that HIV usurps this host pathway to bud from cells. His awards and honors include the Horwitz Prize for Biochemistry (Columbia University), the TIME100 2025 list of most influential people, the Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Prize (Science Magazine), and the World Laureate Association Prize for Life Sciences (WLA Foundation). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Wes and his wife Nola have two adult children, Chris and Nola.

Symposium Program

Each year the recipient(s) of the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize are recognized at a scientific symposium hosted by Harvard Medical School.

Opening Remarks

George Q. Daley, MD, PhD

Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Harvard University, Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine

Bruce Walker, MD

Director, Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard

Award Lectures

Tomas Cihlar, PhD

Senior Vice President of Research, Gilead Sciences

John Link, PhD

Vice President, Medicinal Chemistry, Gilead Sciences (Retd.) Scientific Advisor, Actio Biosciences SAB member, Terremoto Biosciences

Wesley Sundquist, PhD

Professor and Chair of Biochemistry, University of Utah

Invited Speakers

Linda-Gail Bekker, MD, PhD

Professor and Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, University of Cape Town and Chief Executive Officer of the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, South Africa

Conversation with Bill Gates

Chair, Gates Foundation, and Founder, Breakthrough Energy and TerraPower, interviewed by Bruce Walker, MD (by video recording)

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Past Symposia

For questions about the prize, please contact us.

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I am truly honored to be a recipient of the Alpert Award. It is especially meaningful to be recognized by my colleagues for discoveries that helped define the biology of the CTLA-4 and PD-1 pathways. The clinical translation of our fundamental understanding of these pathways illustrates the value of basic science research, and I hope this inspires other scientists.
- Arlene Sharpe

Arlene Sharpe | 2017 Recipient

Dr. Sharpe received her A.B. from Harvard University, where she did undergraduate thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Jack Strominger.  She received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard Medical School where she did PhD thesis research on reovirus pathogenesis in the laboratory of Dr. Bernard Fields. She completed residency training in Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch at the Whitehead Institute.

She currently is the George Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology, Head of the Division of Immunology, and Interim Co-Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School. She is a member of the Department of Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an Associate Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Leader of the Cancer Immunology Program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Dr. Sharpe is the Co-Director of the Evergrande Center for Immunologic Diseases at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She has served as a member and chair of the NIH Hypersensitivity, Autoimmunity and Immune-mediated diseases (HAI) study section and is currently a member of NIAID Council. She is also the President of the American Association of Immunologists.

Dr. Sharpe’s functional analysis of costimulatory pathways regulating T cell activation has led to understanding of (1) the roles of B7-1 and B7-2 as positive regulators through CD28 and (2) negative regulators through CTLA-4, and (3) the role of PD-L1 and PD-L2 as negative regulators through PD-1. This functional characterization has provided critical translational insights that underpinned development of immunotherapies for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and transplant rejection.

Dr. Sharpe’s laboratory currently investigates the roles of T cell costimulatory and coinhibitory pathways in regulating T cell tolerance and effective antimicrobial and antitumor immunity, and translating fundamental understanding of T cell costimulation into new therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer. Dr. Sharpe has published over 300 papers and was listed by Thomas Reuters as one of the most Highly Cited Researchers (top 1%) in 2014 and 2015 and a 2016 Citation Laureate. She received the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor immunology in 2014 for her contributions to the discovery of PD-1 pathway.

 View Past Recipients