Class
| • | 2. Biological Sciences | [X] |
| | 1 | Name: | Dr. Gerald R. Fink | | | Institution: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2003 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 207. Genetics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1940 | | | | | | |
Gerald Fink received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1965. In 1967 he joined the faculty of Cornell University where he was professor of genetics and professor of biochemistry. He became professor of molecular genetics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 and is currently the American Cancer Society Professor. He has been a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research since 1982 and served as its director from 1990-2001. Gerald Fink is internationally recognized for his contributions in genetics, and is considered a preeminent figure in the field of yeast genetics. His work with yeast yielded deep insights into human genetics, and his long-time teaching commitment to the Cold Spring Harbor Yeast Genetics course has initiated many new researchers into the field. As Whitehead director, he developed and supported nationally-renowned education and public policy programs that continue to exert a profound impact on public understanding of research and biomedicine. Fink's service to the scientific community includes mentorship that will inform the professional practice of generations of researchers to come. Dr. Fink is the recipient of the Award in Molecular Biology from the National Academy of Sciences (1981); the Genetics Society of America Medal (1982); the Yale Science and Engineering Award (1984); the Emil Christian Hansen Foundation Award of Microbiology (1986); the Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal from Yale University (1992); the Bristol-Myers Squibb Infectious Disease Research Award (1993); the Senior Scholar Award from the Ellison Medical Foundation (2001); the George W. Beadle Award from the Genetics Society of America (2001); the Yeast, Genetics and Molecular Biology Lifetime Achievement Award (2002); and the James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award [2018]. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2003. | |
| 2 | Name: | Dr. Susan L. Lindquist | | | Institution: | Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2003 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 207. Genetics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1948 | | | Death Date: | October 27, 2016 | | | | | | |
Susan Lindquist was a worldwide leader in the understanding of protein folding in living cells, of enzymes that mediate this process, and of perturbations that result in the formation of abnormal protein aggregates. Some of these aggregates, called prions, are infectious: they can cause abnormal folding and aggregation of otherwise normal proteins. The work of Dr. Lindquist has been instrumental to our understanding of these processes, which underlie major neurodegenerative diseases. Yet another singular contribution by Dr. Lindquist was her discovery that HSP90, a stress protein, functions as a "capacitor" of phenotypic variation, through the ability of HSP90 to buffer against genetic alterations of biochemical pathways, thereby increasing the diversity of phenotypes available for natural selection. This insight revealed a previously unsuspected source of variation that underlies the evolution of living organisms. From 2001 until 2004 Dr. Lindquist directed the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. She served as professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1976 and previously taught at the University of Chicago (1978-2001). She was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2010. Susan Lindquist died October 27, 2016, at the age of 67. | |
| 3 | Name: | Dr. Arno G. Motulsky | | | Institution: | University of Washington | | | Year Elected: | 2003 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 207. Genetics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1923 | | | Death Date: | January 17, 2018 | | | | | | |
Arno Motulsky received his M.D. from the University of Illinois in 1947. He joined the faculty of the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1953 and served as the head of the Division of Medical Genetics, director of the Genetics Clinic at the University Hospital, and director of the Center for Inherited Diseases. He was Professor of Medicine and Professor of Genetics Emeritus and associate director of the Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health at the University of Washington at the time of his death January 17, 2018, at the age of 94. Arno Motulsky was one of less than half-a-dozen innovators who established the subspecialty of medical genetics and helped bring genetics into the mainstream of clinical medicine beginning in the late 1950s. He had great influence in the field of medical genetics 1) through his students who include a Nobel laureate (Joseph Goldstein), 2) his pioneering research in a wide area including pharmacogenetics, blood disorders (particularly G6PD deficiency and hemoglobinopathies), hyperlipidemias, colorblindness, and Werner syndrome (he suggested its usefulness in the study of aging); and 3) through his textbooks which are now classics: Human Genetics: Problems and Approaches (with Vogel) and The Genetic Basis of Common Disease (with King and Rotter). Dr. Motulsky received several awards, including: the William Allan Memorial Award from the American Society of Human Genetics; the American College of Medical Genetics Foundation Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award; and the Victor McKusick Leadership Award from the American Society for Human Genetics. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and American Society of Human Genetics, serving as its president, 1977-78. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2003. | |
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