Brandeis honors three alumni for transformative achievements in arts, medicine and sports

Brandeis University has announced that Philadelphia Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie, actor Loretta Devine and cancer researcher Sheila Efron Taube will receive the Alumni Achievement Award, one of Brandeis University’s highest honors. It is presented to graduates who have made distinguished contributions in fields such as business, science, medicine, education, government, the arts and humanities, journalism, law, sports and real estate.

The award recipients will be celebrated Sunday, April 19, on the Brandeis campus.

Lurie, who earned his doctorate in social policy at Brandeis in 1987, has led the Eagles to 12 division titles, four Super Bowl appearances, and two World Championships. Beyond his success in football, he has maintained a passion for filmmaking, a family legacy that began with his grandfather, founder of the former General Cinema theater chain.

An accomplished producer, Lurie has executive produced several acclaimed films, including three that won Academy Awards: “Inside Job” (2010), “Inocente” (2012) and “Summer of Soul” (2021).

Lurie is also recognized for his philanthropic leadership. In 2018, he founded the Eagles Autism Foundation, which supports research and services for families affected by autism. In 2025, he and his family expanded that work by launching the Lurie Autism Institute in partnership with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine.

While at Brandeis, Lurie chose to study social policy because “I wanted to understand from a needs basis where one could make an impact in the world, and what was happening around the world in terms of health, education, socioeconomic issues, virtually anything,” he said.

From “Dreamgirls” to “Grey’s Anatomy”

Loretta Devine, MFA ’76, has amassed more than 300 Broadway, film and television acting credits over her decades-long career. She originated a starring role in the Tony Award-winning Broadway production “Dreamgirls” and appeared alongside Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett and Lela Rochon in the groundbreaking 1995 film “Waiting to Exhale.” The movie, the first with an all-Black female cast to achieve top box-office success, earned Devine an NAACP Image Award.

Devine’s television work includes more than 160 roles in series such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Boston Public” and the animated children’s show “Doc McStuffins.”

She credits her time at Brandeis with helping her develop a strong work ethic, gain confidence and better understand character development.

Improving outcomes for cancer patients

Sheila Efron Taube, BA ’63, studied biology as an undergrad at Brandeis and earned her doctorate in microbiology and immunology, focusing on virology, from the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. Taube joined the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, becoming chief of the Cancer Diagnosis Branch and then associate division director of the Cancer Diagnosis Program. 

During her 30-plus-year career, Taube helped change how scientists approach cancer diagnosis research so it better aligns with developing treatments. For her work, Taube won the NIH Director’s Award, the institute’s most prestigious award given to employees for exceptional performance, for moving the field of cancer diagnosis into the age of modern technology.

Taube also led efforts to significantly improve diagnoses, treatments and outcomes for early-stage breast cancer. “It took 18 years to develop and conduct the early-stage breast cancer trial. I had recently retired by the time it was done. But it became absolutely clear that a large percentage of patients would have just as good an outcome without chemotherapy. It saved a lot of pain and suffering on the part of patients and hundreds of thousands of dollars in treatments,” Taube said. “It’s also a great example of how the critical thinking that I learned at Brandeis can make an impact.”