American Philosophical Society
Member History

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Resident[X]
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201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry[X]
1Name:  Dr. James E. Darnell
 Institution:  Rockefeller University
 Year Elected:  2013
 Class:  2. Biological Sciences
 Subdivision:  201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Living
 Birth Date:  1930
   
 
Born in Columbus, MS in 1930 Darnell attended local schools and the University of Mississippi, graduating in January 1951. He entered Washington University St. Louis School of Medicine, a "science-based" medical school in 1951, and by 1952 was engaged in microbiological research. After a one year internship he joined the laboratory of Harry Eagle, a pioneer in culturing human cells in culture at the National Institutes of Heath. At NIH he began an early career in animal virology, using cultured cells. An interlude of 11 months with Francois Jacob in 1960-61 taught him about the maturing state of molecular biology, especially the importance of the new discovery of messenger RNA. On returning to his first independent position at MIT in June 1961, he began the study of human (mammalian) cell RNA which he has continued for over 50 years. His research discovered the first cases of RNA processing in ribosomal and transfer RNA. First, a longer primary transcript is copied from DNA and then processed into shorter molecules that function in the cell cytoplasm to direct the synthesis of specific proteins. Studies on the primary nuclear transcript of precursor mRNAs produced during adenovirus infection supplied much of the original evidence that in the nucleus cells process adenovirus pre-mRNA into mRNA paving the way for the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of RNA splicing by Phillip Sharp, Richard Roberts and their colleagues. In the 1980s he began the study of DNA binding transcriptional factors including those activated by reception of signals from cell surface proteins. The far-reaching results from these later experiments culminated in the description of the first complete cell surface to nucleus signal transduction pathway: the JAK-STAT pathway. Dr. Darnell has had academic appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Columbia University. In 1974 Dr. Darnell joined Rockefeller as Vincent Astor Professor, and from 1990 to 1991 he was vice president for academic affairs. He was instrumental in the 1980s and 1990s in establishing a new focus in hiring young independent faculty, a now accepted mechanism in university practice. Dr. Darnell has received numerous awards, including the 2012 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, the 2003 National Medal of Science, the 2002 Albert Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science, the 1997 Passano Award, the 1994 Paul Janssen Prize in Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and the 1986 Gairdner Foundation International Award. He has received honorary degrees from Washington University (1996), Albany Medical College (2000) and The Rockefeller University (2012) He is the author of the recently published RNA: Life’s Indispensable Molecule. He is also coauthor, with S.E. Luria, of General Virology, and a founding author of Molecular Cell Biology, now in its seventh edition. Dr. Darnell is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1973), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1973), a foreign member of The Royal Society of London (1986), and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2004). He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2013.
 
2Name:  Dr. Susan Band Horwitz
 Institution:  Albert Einstein College of Medicine
 Year Elected:  2013
 Class:  2. Biological Sciences
 Subdivision:  201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Living
 Birth Date:  1937
   
 
Dr. Susan Band Horwitz was born in Boston where she grew up and attended public high school. After graduating from Bryn Mawr College, she attended Brandeis University where she received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Pharmacology at Tufts University Medical School, Emory University Medical School and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She joined the faculty at Albert Einstein in 1970 and is presently the Falkenstein Professor of Cancer Research, Co-Chair of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and the Associate Director for Therapeutics at the Albert Einstein Cancer Center. Dr. Horwitz has had a continuing interest in natural products as a source of new drugs for the treatment of cancer. Her contributions span several decades of research and encompass agents which have served as prototypes for some of our most important drugs that are currently in clinical use. She made major contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms of action of camptothecin, the epipodophyllotoxins and bleomycin. However, Dr. Horwitz’ most seminal research contribution has been in the development of Taxol, a drug isolated from the yew plant, Taxus brevifolia. Although no one was interested in Taxol when she began her studies, today it is an important antitumor drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of ovarian, breast and lung carcinomas. The drug has been given to over a million patients. Dr. Horwitz' research played an important role in encouraging the development of Taxol by the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Horwitz is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has received numerous honors and awards including the Cain Memorial Award of the AACR, the ASPET Award for Experimental Therapeutics, the C. Chester Stock Award from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize from Harvard Medical School, The American Cancer Society’s Medal of Honor -Clinical Research Award, The Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science & Technology, the Barnard Medal of Distinction, and the 2014 John Scott Science Award. In 2011, Dr. Horwitz received the AACR Lifetime Achievement Award in Cancer Research and The New York Academy Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Biomedical Science. She served as president (2002-2003) of the American Association of Cancer Research. Susan Horwitz was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2013.
 
Election Year
2013[X]