The Pershing Square Foundation Launches Lotus Award in Women’s Ovarian Health

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Pershing Square Foundation today announced the 2026 Lotus Award (formerly the Ovarian Cancer Challenge Grant), a competitive funding program to accelerate breakthrough research in ovarian cancer. Each recipient will receive $250,000 per year for three years ($750,000 total) to pursue high-risk, high-reward science with potential for transformative impact. Applications for the 2026 Lotus Award are currently being accepted until Monday, February 2^nd at 5:00pm ET.

For over a decade, the Foundation has advanced health initiatives in New York City by funding pioneering cancer researchers through the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance (“PSSCRA”). Expanding on its enduring commitment to cancer research and its broader investments in women’s health over the years, the Foundation launched this new program in 2025, focused on raising awareness of ovarian cancer. This bold initiative tackles one of the most lethal and underfunded cancers impacting women today, bringing together some of the world’s most brilliant minds to address this critical public health crisis.

Despite being the deadliest gynecologic cancer, ovarian cancer has long suffered from a lack of attention and investment. With four out of five women diagnosed at a late stage, and only a 27% five-year survival rate for those patients, ovarian cancer remains a devastating diagnosis with few early detection tools and limited treatment options. In partnership with the PSSCRA network of leading scientists and physician-scientists, the Foundation has created a dedicated funding opportunity to accelerate progress in this field. This initiative aims to fill a critical void: investing in ovarian cancer research with urgency, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

“As we open the second year and officially launch the Lotus Award, we are calling on the most creative and driven researchers across the country to bring their ideas to one of the most urgent and overlooked challenges in women’s health,” said Olivia Tournay Flatto, PhD, President of The Pershing Square Foundation and Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance. “By reaching beyond the traditional ovarian cancer community, we hope to spark bold new collaborations and bring fresh perspectives to a field that is long overdue for transformative progress.”

The 2026 Lotus Award is a nomination-based application process. Lead Principal Investigators (PIs) of the submitted Letter of Intent application must be nominated by a Pershing Square Sohn Prize Advisory Board member, Scientific Review Council member, or Cancer Prize winner. Applicants must (1) have an PhD, MD, or MD-PhD degree (or equivalent), (2) hold a tenure-track faculty appointment (or equivalent) at a nonprofit academic research institution in the United States of America, and (3) have at least two years of experience running their own independent laboratory. Full eligibility details and the submission portal are available at https://prizeapplication.smapply.io/.

Researchers who are not currently studying ovarian cancer are encouraged to apply alongside a collaborator with experience in ovarian cancer research. The aim of this award is to (1) provide investigators with unique expertise to apply their knowledge to ovarian cancer and/or (2) empower ovarian cancer researchers to pursue their boldest ideas. Facing a disease where too few have survived to-date, The Foundation ultimately aims to create a culture around ovarian cancer that offers women hope, akin to the breast cancer community. The Foundation is passionate about changing outcomes for tens of thousands of women a year and is hopeful that future scientific discoveries will allow for more survivors who can share their stories for years to come.

“The fight against ovarian cancer demands a response as urgent and innovative as the disease is aggressive. Lotus is leading that effort—by rewarding bold ideas, elevating emerging investigators, and driving research that has the potential for meaningful patient impact.” – Mary Lynne Hedley, PhD, Senior Scientific Fellow at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures, and member of the Lotus Scientific Review Board

“The Lotus Award established by the Pershing Square Foundation not only offers generous support for innovative ovarian cancer research but provides awardees with critical scientific feedback and invaluable contacts across science, biotechnology and entrepreneurship” – Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, Director of the Columbia Initiative in Cell Engineering and Therapy and Director of the Cancer Cell Therapy Initiative in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University, and member of the Lotus Scientific Review Board

The Lotus Award relies on the guidance of a highly accomplished scientific advisory board, including:

• Carol Aghajanian, MD – Chief, Gynecologic Medical Oncology Service, Director, MSK NCI Network Program, Avon Chair in Gynecologic Oncology Research, & Member, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Juan Cubillos-Ruiz, PhD – William J. Ledger, M.D., Distinguished Associate Professor for Infection and Immunology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine – Cornell University
• Luis Diaz, MD - Head, Division of Solid Tumor Oncology, Grayer Family Chair, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Ronny Drapkin, MD, PhD - Director, Ovarian Cancer Research Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Director of Gynecologic Cancer Research, Basser Center for BRCA & Co-Director, Ovarian Cancer Translational Center of Excellence, Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine
• Olivier Elemento, PhD - Director, Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Associate Director, Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Associate Director, Clinical & Translational Science Center, Weill Cornell Medicine
• Mary Lynne Hedley, PhD - Senior Scientific Fellow, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Venture Partner, Third Rock Ventures
• David Lyden, MD, PhD - Stavros S. Niarchos Professor in Pediatrics and Cell and Developmental Biology, Weill Cornell Medicine
• David Sabatini, MD, PhD - Senior Group Leader, Prague & Boston, IOCB (Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
• Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD - Director of the Columbia Initiative in Cell Engineering and Therapy, Director of the Cancer Cell Therapy Initiative in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University
• Ie-Ming Shih, MD, PhD – Richard W. TeLinde Distinguished Professor, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics; Co-Director, Women's Malignancies Program, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• David Tuveson, MD, PhD - Roy J. Zuckerberg Professor of Cancer Therapeutics, Director, Cancer Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
• Dmitriy Zamarin, MD, PhD - Professor, Hematology/Oncology, Section Head, Gynecologic Medical Oncology, Co-Director, Center of Excellence for Gynecologic Cancers, Precision Immunology Institute Icahn Genomics Institute, Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Oliver Zivanovic, MD, PhD - Chairman, Women‘s Hospital, Heidelberg University

About The Pershing Square Foundation

The Pershing Square Foundation is a family foundation established in 2006 to support exceptional leaders and innovative organizations that tackle important issues and deliver scalable and sustainable global impact. Pershing Square Philanthropies, which includes The Pershing Square Foundation, has committed more than $930 million in grants and investments in target areas including health and medicine, education, economic development and innovation. Bill Ackman and Neri Oxman are co-trustees of the Foundation. For more information, visit:

http://pershingsquarephilanthropies.org.