Stephen L. Hauser, M.D., recipient of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. (Photo: Steve Babuljak)

Neuro-immunologist Stephen Hauser, M.D., whose maverick thinking transformed the treatment landscape for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), has received the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

Hauser, a UCSF professor of neurology and director of the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, was recognized April 5 for overturning “the scientific consensus on the mechanism of MS, identifying the immune system’s B cells as the primary driver of damage to nerve cells.” The award also cited his instrumental role in developing therapies that have “revolutionized modern treatment of the disease.”

Hauser shares the award with Alberto Ascherio, M.D., DrPH, of Harvard University, who discovered that contracting the Epstein-Barr virus raises the risk of developing MS by a factor of 32.

Now in its 14th year, the Breakthrough Prize was created by founding sponsors Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki as the “Oscars of science.”

Read the full story at the UC Newsroom

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