2025 Basser Center Global Prize awarded to Ephrat Levy-Lahad
Levy-Lahad has been recognized for leading population-based BRCA screening programs.
The Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, the world’s first comprehensive center aimed at advancing research, treatment, and prevention of BRCA-related cancers, has announced Ephrat Levy-Lahad, MD, of Shaare Zedek Medical Center and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as the recipient of the 2025 Basser Global Prize.
Each year, the Basser Global Prize recognizes a leading scientist who has advanced BRCA1 and BRCA2-related research. Individuals with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are at an increased risk of breast, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancers.
Levy-Lahad has been active in BRCA1 and BRCA2 research and clinical translation for 30 years, starting a few months after the cloning of BRCA1 and a few months before the cloning of BRCA2. She is one of the world’s leading experts on inherited breast cancer among Jewish women. Women and men of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry have a 1 in 40 chance of carrying a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation. This is about a five times greater chance than that of the general population.
“The Basser Global Prize recognizes scientists who are transforming our understanding of BRCA-related cancers and inspiring hope for the future,” said Susan M. Domchek, MD, executive director of the Basser Center for BRCA. “Dr. Levy-Lahad’s innovative work exemplifies the scientific excellence and collaboration that drives progress forward for individuals and families affected by BRCA mutations.”A career dedicated to BRCA research
Levy-Lahad received her medical degree from the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Medicine. She completed an internal medicine residency at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and a clinical and research fellowship in Medical Genetics at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is the founder and Robin Chemers Neustein Director of the Fuld Family Medical Genetics Institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and a professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Genetics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Her accomplishments include establishing for the first time that risks of breast and ovarian cancer are high among BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers identified from the general population—not just among carriers with a family history of cancer. This work provided the evidence-base and impetus for implementing a free nationwide genetic screening program among Ashkenazi Jews in Israel, which has since expanded to include Ethiopian Jews. More than 60,000 women are now tested annually for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Levy-Lahad has also co-led the Middle East Breast Cancer Study (MEBCS) of newly diagnosed Palestinian breast cancer patients and their families, identifying features unique to this population.
“I am immensely honored to receive the Basser award,” said Levy-Lahad. “My hope is that it will further awareness of general testing of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations for prevention of breast and ovarian cancer.”
About the prize
Levy-Lahad will give the keynote address at the 14th annual Basser Center Scientific Symposium, taking place May 12-13, 2026.
The Basser Global Prize provides $100,000 in unrestricted support of the winner's BRCA1 and BRCA2-related research efforts, a Basser sculpture, and a $10,000 personal prize, which will be awarded at the symposium.
The Basser Global Prize was established and endowed by Shari Potter and Leonard Potter, following the establishment of the Basser Center in 2012 by University of Pennsylvania alumni Mindy and Jon Gray in memory of Mindy and Shari’s sister Faith Basser, who died of ovarian cancer at age 44.