Meet the 2026 Awardee: Michael E. Wechsler, MD, MSc
Michael E. Wechsler, MD, MSc is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at NJH in Denver, Director of the National Jewish Health (NJH)/Cohen Family Asthma Institute and Associate Vice President for Innovation and Industry Relations at NJH. In addition to clinical work in pulmonary & critical care medicine, Professor Wechsler’s clinical and translational research focuses on clinical trials in asthma and COPD, novel asthma/COPD therapies, bronchial thermoplasty, and management of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (i.e. Churg-Strauss Syndrome, CSS). He has led studies focusing on novel biologic agents for airways diseases, including benralizumab, dupilumab, mepolizumab, reslizumab, tezepelumab, itepekimab and depemokimab. He has published more than 380 publications relating to asthma, COPD, EGPA and eosinophilic lung diseases, and has been an investigator in over 60 clinical trials. He was a member of the Steering Committee and site Principal Investigator of the NIH-sponsored Asthma Clinical Research Network (ACRN/AsthmaNet), a multicenter asthma clinical trials consortium, as well as the PI of the Denver site of the Precision Intervention in Severe/Exacerbating Asthma (PRECISE) network. A member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, he has participated in many different task forces related to the study of asthma and eosinophilic lung diseases that were sponsored by the NIH, the FDA, the European Respiratory Society and the International Eosinophil Society. He is currently Associate Editor of the journal Chest and has served as Associate Editor of the journal Allergy and on the editorial board of the European Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Dr. Wechsler received AB and MMSc degrees from Harvard University in Boston and an MD degree from McGill University in Montreal. He completed medical training at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, and as part of the Harvard Combined Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Training Program.
Description
This award is intended for an established, internationally recognized investigator with a record of sustained and exemplary achievement in a scientific area of interest to the AII Assembly. A single awardee is selected per year. The awardee will receive a framed certificate and give a brief presentation of their work at the annual Assembly Membership Meeting. There is no monetary award given for this recognition.
Qualifications
- The awardee must be a Primary or Secondary AII member.
- Nominees who hold a primary appointment at an academic institution, in industry, or in other settings are eligible.
- Previous awardees are not eligible for the same award.
Nominations
- Nominations must be submitted by AII Primary or Secondary Assembly members.
- Please submit a completed nomination form summarizing how the nominee has advanced science in their area of expertise and highlighting other significant contributions to the profession. Include specific examples (e.g., publications, mentoring, education, leadership, community engagement) to support why the nominee merits this honor.
- Upload the nominee’s NIH Biosketch or equivalent research CV (limit 5 pages). Ensure that the Biosketch or CV accurately reflects all the activities listed on the nomination form.