PRESS RELEASE: Yale physician Reshma Ramachandran wins 2025 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility

BOSTON, Mass. — Reshma Ramachandran, MD, MPP, MHS has been awarded the 2025 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility and its $25,000 prize. The award recognizes her exceptional work championing fair access to medicines and advancing health policy that prioritizes the public’s health over private profit. Dr. Ramachandran is an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine where she co-directs the Yale Collaboration for Regulatory Rigor, Integrity, and Transparency (CRRIT).

“Reshma represents the very best of what it means to be a socially responsible physician,” said Dr. Vikas Saini, President of the Lown Institute. “She challenges entrenched power, fights for systemic change, and always keeps the needs of patients and communities at the heart of her work. She brings the kind of moral courage that is desperately needed in medicine today.”

Some of Dr. Ramachandran’s notable accomplishments include:

• As founder and prior chair of Doctors for America’s FDA Task Force, led efforts to mobilize clinicians to strengthen federal oversight of drug efficacy and patient safety.
• Co-founded the Yale CRRIT, which conducts research to advance policy proposals to strengthen the evidence base for drugs, devices, and other medical products. 
• As a board member of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), advocated for affordable access to technologies discovered and developed on university campuses.
• Conducted research and advocated successfully to stop legislation that would have awarded billions to industry for the creation of antibiotics of unclear clinical benefit.
• As a member of the board of directors of Doctors for America, led efforts to preserve access to critical data and information on federal health agency websites.
• Spoke out on important healthcare topics before congressional committees, at academic and professional convenings, and through numerous op-eds in traditional media.

“Every day, our patients face too many barriers accessing affordable, effective, and safe health care,” said Dr. Ramachandran. “As a clinician, I’m driven to advocate on their behalf to ensure that our public health institutions are truly centered around them, and not corporate interests.”

The award from the Lown Institute, an independent healthcare think tank, is given each year to a U.S. clinician aged 45 or younger who stands out for their bold leadership in social justice, environmentalism, global peace, or other humanitarian efforts. The award is named for Dr. Bernard Lown, a pioneering cardiologist, humanitarian, and founder of the Lown Institute. 

The award will be presented to Dr. Ramachandran at a dinner on June 5th in Boston. 

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About the Lown Institute

The Lown Institute is an independent think tank advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health. We envision a healthcare system focused on what’s best for people, like hospitals caring for those most in need, patients living without fear of financial distress, and health professionals finding joy in their roles. The Lown Hospitals Index, a signature project of the Institute, is the first ranking to assess the social responsibility of U.S. hospitals by applying measures never used before like community investment, medical overuse, and ceo pay. 

Media Contact

Aaron Toleos, Lown Institute, (978) 821-4620, atoleos@lowninstitute.org