A University of Iowa researcher has been recognized with one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious scientific awards for his decades of work studying muscular dystrophy.
Kevin P. Campbell, PhD, a UI professor and internationally recognized muscular dystrophy researcher, has been named the 2026 winner of the August M. Watanabe Prize in Translational Research, awarded by the Indiana University School of Medicine.
The Watanabe Prize recognizes senior investigators who have made significant contributions to translational science — the process of shepherding scientific discoveries into new therapies for patients. Mr. Campbell will receive $100,000 and deliver the keynote address at the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute’s annual meeting in Indianapolis on Sept. 18.
Mr. Campbell holds the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver Biomedical Research Chair in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and serves as professor and chair of that department at the UI Carver College of Medicine. He also directs the Senator Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Specialized Research Center at Iowa.
A UI faculty member since 1981, Mr. Campbell has spent more than four decades pursuing the science of muscular dystrophy with the goal of developing new treatment strategies for these progressive, life-shortening conditions. His research has advanced the understanding of skeletal muscle biology and provided critical insight into the disease processes underlying multiple forms of muscular dystrophy. Over the course of his career, Mr. Campbell has published 488 original papers that have received more than 83,000 citations.
A primary focus of Mr. Campbell’s research involves the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex, alterations in which are responsible for several forms of muscular dystrophy, including those associated with abnormal central nervous system development and function. His lab investigates the structure and function of that complex across skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle, as well as non-muscle tissues including the brain and peripheral nerve.
Mr. Campbell was nominated for the prize by Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH, vice president of medical affairs and dean of the UI Carver College of Medicine.
The prize is named in honor of the late August M. Watanabe, a leader at the IU School of Medicine and Eli Lilly and Company whose translational research work impacted patients worldwide.
