On Tuesday, April 7 a leaked University video announced that Katalin Karikó will deliver the commencement speech for the Class of 2026.
Karikó is a Hungarian-American biochemist and the 2023 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with American immunologist Drew Weissman for their contributions to the mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. Karikó began her research career in the University of Szeged before being terminated in 1985, after which she was forced to continue her research at Temple University in Pennsylvania. As the video describes, Karikó arrived in the U.S. with only $1,200 in cash sewn into her daughter’s teddy bear. Karikó later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania following a hostile experience with a lab supervisor. Amidst grant rejections, a breast cancer diagnosis and a position demotion, Karikó continued her research in mRNA therapy until the full development of a modern mRNA vaccine, which was licensed to BioNTech and utilized during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Karikó’s selection has sparked mostly positive reactions among students. In an email to The News-Letter, senior Gabrielle Chavez reacted to Karikó’s selection and her accomplishments.
“I'm very shocked that it was leaked. That's very exciting to be able to hear from someone that helped develop a solution to a problem that affected so many people worldwide,” Chavez added.
In an email to The News-Letter, Alisa Fedotova, a graduating senior, also expressed her excitement at the selection, wondering the exact extent of her story which will be shared at commencement.
“I think [Karikó will be] a great speaker. I want to see if she talks about how they discredited her at the University of Pennsylvania,” Fedotova explained.
Fedotova is referring to Karikó’s status as a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, where she struggled to obtain grant money for her research and was demoted, as per institutional policy, after five years in the position during the late 1990s. Even after the development of the mRNA vaccine, the University of Pennsylvania did not greatly support Karikó’s work.
The 2026 University-wide commencement will take place on Thursday, May 21.
Buse Koldas and Grace Oh contributed to the reporting of this article.
