Researcher
University of Southern California
Marlena Fejzo is a 2024 Time Woman of the Year honored for her central role in the discovery of the main cause of morning sickness and hyperemesis gravidarum. She is a Harvard-trained women’s health scientist who has published peer-reviewed articles on many diseases of women including ovarian and breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, and discovered the first genes for uterine fibroids, nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), and hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). Fejzo is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, Chief Scientific Officer of The Morning Sickness and HG Clinic, Research Director and Board Member of the HER Foundation, Board Member of the Foundation for Women’s Health, Member of Women’s Health Access Matters, Member of former First Lady Jill Biden’s Women’s Health Network, and a consultant for NGM Bio. In addition, she is a Time 100 Health Honoree, received the National Organization of Women Victoria Mastrobuono Award in Women’s Health, Forbes 50-Over-50 award in Innovation, is a Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year Finalist, and the inaugural BII & Science Translational Medicine Prize for Innovations in Women's Health grand prize winner.