UCSF Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery is pleased to announce that Michael Merzenich, PhD, professor emeritus, has been named a 2026 recipient of the Richard N. Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology.
Merzenich is being honored for foundational contributions to the development of the modern cochlear implant, a breakthrough technology that has restored hearing to more than one million people worldwide and is described by the prize as the first medical device to generate a human sense through a direct neural interface. He shares the award with Graeme Clark, Erwin Hochmair, Ingeborg Hochmair, and Blake Wilson.
Beginning in the early 1970s, Merzenich and colleagues at UCSF helped establish the neurophysiologic basis for cochlear implant design. Their work included studies of device safety, patterned electrical stimulation, intracochlear electrode arrays, and implanted multiple-channel electrode drivers. The UCSF team also conducted some of the earliest clinical trials of multichannel cochlear implants.
The Merkin Prize, administered by the Broad Institute, recognizes pathbreaking technologies that are demonstrably improving human health, and the 2026 prize carries a total award of $400,000. This year’s laureates will be honored at a prize ceremony in September.
Merzenich’s early UCSF contributions were highlighted in his 2015 paper, “Early UCSF contributions to the development of multiple-channel cochlear implants,” which chronicled the department’s role in shaping the field from the 1970s through the mid-1980s.
We congratulate Dr. Merzenich on this well-deserved recognition and thank him for his enduring contributions to hearing science, patient care, and the field of otolaryngology.
