Dr. Cappellini is being recognized for her research in novel therapeutic challenges for thalassemias and sickle cell disease, including gene therapy and other pharmacologic treatments. These new treatments could significantly change the survival and quality of life of people suffering from these diseases. She has been involved in translational and clinical research focused on thalassemia for nearly 4 decades. Through the advent of techniques of molecular biology in the 1980s, Dr. Cappellini characterized the genotypes and phenotypes of beta-thalassemia major, beta-thalassemia intermedia, alpha-thalassemia, and rare combinations of thalassemias that informed researchers’ understanding of the natural history of these disorders and allowed for molecular-based genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis.