In 2019, the NVGCT established the Outstanding Achievement Award to honor individuals who made high-impact or lifelong contributions to the field of gene and cell therapy. The NVGCT Outstanding Achievement Award is presented yearly at the NVGCT conference. The recipient is selected from nominations submitted to the board by a yearly changing award committee.
The recipient of the 2024 NVGCT Award was Professor Vincenzo Cerullo. Professor Cerullo got his PhD at Centre for genetic Engineering (CENIGE) at University of Naples, Federico II in 2004, then he moved to Houston Texas (USA) for a postdoc at Baylor College of Medicine. In 2009 he started working at the University of Helsinki as s senior researcher until 2012 when he was awarded a tenure-track professorship and started the ImmunoViroTherapy Lab. The group has produced tens of scientific papers and patents and has co-founded a multimillion spin-off company together with the University of Helsinki (VALO therapeutics). He is dedicated to transform his research into actionable societal changes. Professor Cerullo has been particularly impactful with the development of the PeptiCRAd technology, which enables the generation of personalized cancer treatments by coating oncolytic adenovirus capsids with cancer-specific peptides.