Welsh receives Canada Gairdner International Award for cystic fibrosis discoveries

Welsh, who was born and raised in Marshalltown, Iowa, has been at the UI for almost his entire career. For more than 40 years, he has developed and led highly productive teams of scientists at the UI and fostered strong collaborations with researchers around the world to investigate the complexities of lung biology and the cellular mechanisms that cause CF. This work paved the way for new therapies that have dramatically improved quality of life and survival for people with CF. His curiosity has also led him to discoveries in neurobiology that may have implications for Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Welsh received his undergraduate and medical degrees and did his medical residency at the UI. Following fellowships at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, he returned to the UI in 1981 to join the faculty in the Department of Internal Medicine. He is the Roy J. Carver Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and director of the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute at the Carver College of Medicine. He also holds faculty appointments in the neurology and neurosurgery departments at the Carver College of Medicine. He was an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1989 to 2024.

Throughout his career, Welsh has received numerous honors for his work on CF, including the Steven C. Beering Award (2017), the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize (2018), the George M. Kober Medal (2020), the Shaw Prize in Life Sciences & Medicine (2022), the Wiley prize (2023), and Switzer Prize (2023). He was president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation from 1996-to 1997 and has served as president of the Association of American Physicians. He also is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences.