Michael J. Fox Receives Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award for Transformative Leadership in Parkinson's Research

• Actor, advocate and founder of The Michael J. Fox Foundation named a laureate of the 2026 Lasker Awards, widely recognized as America's preeminent research prize
• Fox honored "for empowering patients' voices and accelerating research to find improved therapies and a cure for Parkinson's disease"

NEW YORK, Sept. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) today celebrates founder Michael J. Fox as the recipient of the 2026 Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award, recognizing his extraordinary contributions to advancing Parkinson's research through scientific entrepreneurialism, courageous activism, community mobilization and philanthropic humanitarianism.

Widely recognized as America's preeminent biomedical research prize, the Lasker Awards are among the most prestigious honors in science and medicine — more than 100 Lasker Laureates have also received the Nobel Prize. The Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award honors individuals and organizations whose public service accelerates progress in medical science or health. The official Lasker citation recognizes Fox for "dispelling the stigma of the disease and spearheading a revolution in the world of Parkinson's research."

"Receiving a Lasker is humbling," said Michael J. Fox. "I share this honor with everyone who works side by side with us — scientists, policymakers, and most of all, the patients and families who give their all to this cause. I am deeply grateful to them, and to everyone who is part of the effort to end Parkinson's."

Diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1991 at age 29, Michael J. Fox founded MJFF in 2000 with an ambitious goal: accelerate the development of better Parkinson's treatments and, ultimately, a cure. At a time when Parkinson's research was characterized by chronic underinvestment and stalled innovation, Fox helped pioneer an entrepreneurial approach to biomedical philanthropy, assembling an in-house team of PhD-trained scientists and business strategists to learn from patients themselves about their unmet medical needs and fund high-risk, high-reward research that patients themselves would want pursued.

Under the leadership of Fox, CEO and Co-Founder Deborah W. Brooks and a skilled Foundation staff, MJFF has rapidly grown into the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, having funded more than $3 billion globally to date, a portion in partnership with the Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) initiative funded by the Sergey Brin Family Foundation. Lasker and Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman, PhD, serves as ASAP's scientific advisory board chair and was Michael J. Fox's Lasker nominator.

In its short history, the Foundation has transformed the Parkinson's landscape, helping build the most robust therapeutic pipeline in the disease's history and cultivating a research ecosystem that has supported 23 new drug approvals over the past decade. Today, MJFF now invests significantly more in Parkinson's research each year than the U.S. federal government.

Fox has matched his commitment to scientific discovery with a powerful voice of advocacy. In 1999, before founding MJFF, he testified before Congress to call for greater federal investment in Parkinson's research. He later became a leading voice for research freedom, helping advance the national dialogue on stem cell research in the mid-2000s. The Foundation has carried that advocacy forward, most recently calling upon hundreds of thousands of grassroots policy advocates to help secure passage of the National Plan to End Parkinson's Act in July 2024, which established the National Parkinson's Project, the first comprehensive federal legislation dedicated to the disease.

Fox has been equally influential in ensuring that people living with Parkinson's have a seat at the table to inform research on the disease. His openness about his own experience helped smash stigma, while MJFF has created both formal and informal opportunities for patients and families to help shape the Foundation's scientific agenda. Under his leadership, the Foundation has built a global network of patients, academic researchers, clinicians, industry leaders and philanthropists united by a shared sense of urgency. Today, that community includes an audience of nearly four million including 1.2 million donors since inception — a testament to Fox's ability to transform individual acts of generosity and support into a global community.

The Lasker Award adds to a significant body of recognition for Fox's humanitarian leadership. For nearly three decades, he has transformed his Parkinson's diagnosis into a global call to action, using his public platform to champion research investment and scientific risk-taking while elevating the needs of patients and families. His many distinctions include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Order of Canada, and multiple honorary degrees from leading universities and medical institutions worldwide. An acclaimed actor and bestselling author, Fox has brought Parkinson's into public view with candor, optimism and humor, inspiring millions around the world.

Since 1945, the Lasker Foundation has awarded more than 400 prizes through the Lasker Awards, recognizing the contributions of leaders who have made major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of human disease. The Awards carry an honorarium of $250,000 for each category. They will be presented at a gala ceremony in New York City on Thursday, September 17, 2026. The full list of Lasker Award recipients is available at laskerfoundation.org.

"Experts told Michael early on that Parkinson's science was 'ahead of the money.' He took that insight and went all in on a clear vision: put patients at the center and accelerate relevant, rigorous and collaborative science. His celebrity generated visibility, but his humanitarian spirit, business instincts, and tenacious optimism provided the blueprint for results," said Debi Brooks, MJFF's CEO and Co-Founder. "This honor affirms what the Parkinson's community has long seen in Michael — a champion who pushes science beyond the status quo and closer to solutions that improve patients' lives." 

About The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF)
As the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to accelerating a cure for Parkinson's disease and improved therapies for those living with the condition today. The Foundation pursues its goals through an aggressively funded, highly targeted research program coupled with active global engagement of scientists, Parkinson's patients, business leaders, clinical trial participants, donors, and volunteers. In addition to funding $3 billion in research to date, the Foundation has fundamentally altered the trajectory of progress toward a cure. Operating at the hub of worldwide Parkinson's research, MJFF forges groundbreaking collaborations, creates robust open-access data sets and biosample libraries with its landmark clinical study (PPMI), increases the flow of participants into Parkinson's disease clinical trials with its online tool (Fox Trial Finder), promotes Parkinson's awareness, and coordinates the grassroots involvement of thousands of Team Fox members around the world. For more information, visit us at www.michaeljfox.org, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

SOURCE The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research