The Lundquist Institute has named Ashraf S. Ibrahim, J. Usha Raj and William W. Stringer as its 2026 Legends honorees. The recognition, celebrated on October 14 and described in an October 26 institute announcement, focuses on long careers in research and care. It is not an announcement of a new treatment or a public event still to come.

Ibrahim, who joined Harbor-UCLA in 1991, studies invasive fungal infections and founded Vitalex Biosciences. Raj led neonatology at Harbor-UCLA from 1995 to 2008 and investigated how blood flows through the lungs. Stringer joined in 1984 and has worked on respiratory clinical trials involving conditions including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Long COVID.

The institute reports 225 principal investigators and more than 600 basic and clinical science studies across its organization. Its research hubs cover infectious disease and immunology, advanced therapies and medical technologies, prevention, and population health. The awards spotlight individual careers within that broader body of work, rather than a single project.

For readers who know the older name LA BioMed, Lundquist is that institution. Its history began in 1952 on the Harbor General Hospital campus, with research taking place in buildings that included former Army wards and barracks. The first dedicated research building opened in 1987. The Medical Research Laboratory followed in 2019.

Today the institute sits on the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center campus. It describes the hospital partnership as a way to connect scientific questions with health problems encountered in clinical care. Its work includes laboratory investigation, clinical studies and pathways for bringing discoveries into practical use. Those are related stages, not interchangeable claims that a discovery is already a proven therapy.

The institute also supports technology transfer, startup development and an on-site BioLabs incubator. That gives the recognition a local business dimension alongside its medical one. For Torrance-area readers, the award announcement offers an introduction to both the people doing the work and the research, training and commercialization activity around Harbor-UCLA.

Meet the 2026 Lundquist Legends