Laura Hirsch Selected as 2026 Abul-Hajj and Hanna Award Winner

The Department of Medicinal Chemistry is happy to announce that Laura Hirsch was named the recipient of the 2026 Abul-Hajj and Hanna Award for Exceptional Graduate Student in Medicinal Chemistry! You can read about the award here.

Laura has spent her graduate career developing specific PROTACS against Aurora-A, the binding partner of N-MYC, with Professor Daniel Harki. N-MYC is a key target for neuroblastoma and despite its importance in proliferation of neuroblastoma, there are no known drugs that act on this target. Her research has been published in Cell Chemical Biology and Nature Communications. You can read more about Laura’s work and the important work of the Harki Lab here.

The award is not given just for outstanding research accomplishments, but for demonstrating outstanding citizenship - characteristics Professor Emeritus Yusuf Abul-Hajj and the late Professor Patrick Hanna exemplified. Laura has been a remarkable departmental and graduate program citizen. She served as Co-President of the Women in Medicinal Chemistry student organization, on the Graduate Student Retreat Committee, and contributed to other service opportunities. Laura is exceptionally kind and has a natural curiosity that makes her a fantastic scientist.

Laura gave her award lecture, entitled “Development of selective Aurora kinase A degraders for the targeted degradation of N-Myc in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma” on Tuesday, May 4^th 2026.

She had this to say about receiving the award:

"It is truly an honor to be awarded the Abul-Hajj and Hanna Exceptional Graduate Student award. Yusuf Abul-Hajj and Patrick Hanna were exemplary professors in the department, both in terms of service and research accolades. I am extremely grateful to be given an award in the spirit of that legacy.”

Congratulations, Laura!