| 1 | Name: | Dr. Janet D. Rowley | |
| Institution: | University of Chicago | ||
| Year Elected: | 1993 | ||
| Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 207. Genetics | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1925 | ||
| Death Date: | December 17, 2013 | ||
Janet Rowley received a Ph.B. in 1944, a B.S. in anatomy in 1946, and an M.D. in medicine in 1948, all at the University of Chicago. After working as attending physician at the Infant Welfare and Prenatal Clinics for the Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Public Health and later in clinics in Chicago, Dr. Rowley worked as a research fellow at the Dr. Julian D. Levinson Foundation, and as a clinical instructor in neurology at the University of Illinois School of Medicine in Chicago. Following a year as a National Institutes of Health special trainee in the radiobiology laboratory of the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, she returned to the University of Chicago in 1962 as a research associate and assistant professor. She was the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago since 1982. She was the cofounder and coeditor of the journal Genes, Chromosomes and Cancer and served on the editorial boards of many journals. Her laboratory analyzed the genetic consequences of the recurring chromosome abnormalities seen in human leukemia cells, including cloning several new genes at translocation breakpoints. She is currently investigating the pattern of gene expression and microRNA expression in various translocations to determine which differences have the greatest impact on all function and which are of diagnostic and prognostic importance and which are potential therapeutic targets. Dr. Rowley received many honors, including a National Medal of Science in 1998, the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research that same year (which she shared with APS members Alfred G. Knudson and Peter C. Nowell), the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, and the American Association for Cancer Research's Award for Liferime Achievement in 2010. She was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1993. She was awarded the Society's 2003 Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences "in recognition of her discovery of chromosomal translocations associated with cancer and of the range of basic research and clinical applications her continuing work makes possible, from identifying the genetic alterations that cause cancer to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer; and in recognition also of her exemplary leadership and mentorship in the world of bio-medical sciences." Janet Rowley died December 17, 2013, at the age of 88, at her home in Chicago. | |||