Class
| • | 2. Biological Sciences | [X] |
| | 1 | Name: | Dr. Bruce Alberts | | | Institution: | University of California, San Francisco | | | Year Elected: | 1994 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 202. Cellular and Developmental Biology | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1938 | | | | | | |
Bruce Alberts is a molecular biologist of extraordinary breadth. His rigorous studies of the replication of the genome of a bacterial virus led to the concept of a complex "protein machine" that carries out the sequential steps of DNA replication. Along the way, he discovered novel proteins that unwind, stabilize or relax DNA as they participate in the replication process.
Dr. Alberts is one of the principal authors of The Molecular Biology of the Cell, considered the field's leading advanced textbook and used widely in U.S. colleges and universities. Born in Chicago, he graduated from Harvard College with a degree in biochemical sciences and earned a doctorate from Harvard University in 1965. He joined the faculty of Princeton University in 1966 and after 10 years moved to the Medical School of the University of California, San Francisco, where he is now professor emeritus. He was awarded an American Cancer Society Lifetime Research Professorship in 1980. He served as president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1993 to 2005. Dr. Alberts has been a leader in efforts to improve science education in public schools and has guided policy studies as chairman of the Commission on Life Sciences of the National Research Council. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Science. In 2010 he was named winner of the George Brown Award for International Scientific Cooperation, in 2014 he was awarded the National Medal of Science, and in 2016 he was recognized by the Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science. | |
| 2 | Name: | Dr. Paul Greengard | | | Institution: | Rockefeller University | | | Year Elected: | 1994 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 208. Plant Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1925 | | | Death Date: | April 13, 2019 | | | | | | |
Paul Greengard was Vincent Astor Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at The Rockefeller University from 1983 until his death in 2019. He received his Ph.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1953. He then spent five years in England receiving advanced training at the University of London, at Cambridge University and at the National Institute of Medical Research. Upon his return to the United States, Greengard worked as Director of the Department of Biochemistry at Geigy Research Laboratories, in Ardsley, New York, for eight years. From 1968 to 1983, he served as Professor of Pharmacology and Psychiatry at Yale University. Greengard authored over 1,000 scientific publications and his achievements earned him numerous prestigious awards. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000 for his discovery of how dopamine and a number of other neurotransmitters exert their action in the brain. Paul Greengard died April 13, 2019 in Manhattan at the age of 93. | |
| 3 | Name: | Dr. Mary Ellen Jones | | | Institution: | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | | | Year Elected: | 1994 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1922 | | | Death Date: | 8/23/96 | | | | |
| 4 | Name: | Dr. Edwin D. Kilbourne | | | Institution: | New York Medical College | | | Year Elected: | 1994 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 205. Microbiology | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1920 | | | Death Date: | February 21, 2011 | | | | | | |
Edwin Dennis Kilbourne spent his professional lifetime in the study of infectious diseases, with particular reference to virus infections. His early studies of coxsackieviruses and herpes simplex preceded intensive study of influenza in all of its manifestations. His primary contributions have been to the understanding of influenza virus structure and genetics and the practical application of these studies to the development of influenza vaccines and to the understanding of the molecular epidemiology and pathogenesis of influenza. His studies of influenza virus genetics resulted in the first genetically engineered vaccine of any kind for the prevention of human disease. A new approach to influenza immunization has received 2 United States Patents. Following his graduation from Cornell University Medical College in 1944, and an internship and residency in medicine at the New York Hospital, he served two years in the Army of the United States. After three years at the Rockefeller Institute, he served successively as Associate Professor of Medicine at Tulane University, as Professor of Public Health at Cornell University Medical College, and as founding Chairman of the Department of Microbiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, at which he was awarded the rank of Distinguished Service Professor. He was Emeritus Professor at New York Medical College. He was a member of the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Sciences and was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 1994. He was the recipient of the Borden Award of the Association of American Medical Colleges for Outstanding Research in Medical Sciences and of an honorary degree from Rockefeller University in addition to other honors and lectureships. As an avocation, Dr. Kilbourne published light verse and essays and articles for the general public on various aspects of biological science. Edwin Kilbourne died on February 21, 2011, at the age of 90, in Madison, Connecticut. | |
| 5 | Name: | Dr. Jack L. Strominger | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1994 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 209. Neurobiology | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1925 | | | | | | |
Jack Strominger, Higgins Professor of Biochemistry at Harvard University, has worked on the mode of action of penicillin and uncovered the molecular basis of its activity. In recent years, he has conducted research on the structure and function of human histocompatibility antigens: proteins on the surface of all cells that characterize the uniqueness of each individual and play an essential role in presenting peptides to the immune system. His early work involved isolating and characterizing these so called MH proteins. Dr. Strominger has also, along with Don Wiley, crystallized the molecule and determined its three dimensional structure to other cells in the immune system - a striking advance in our understanding of the molecular basis of immunology. His laboratory is currently focused on three main projects: the role of MHC proteins and of products of other disease susceptibility genes in human autoimmunity, including multiple sclerosis, diabetes, pemphigus vulgaris and ankylosing spondylitis; activating and inhibitory immunological synapses in human natural killer cells: how they are formed and how they function, particularly in relation to lipid rafts; and uterine decidual lymphocytes and their roles in the immunobiology of pregnancy. Having taught at Harvard University since 1968, Dr. Strominger has also served on the faculties of the Washington University School of Medicine (1948-51, 1955-64) and the University of Wisconsin Medical School (1964-68) and from 1951-54 worked as a senior assistant surgeon for the U.S. Public Health Service at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. His many awards include the National Academy of Sciences Award in Microbiology (1968), the Pasteur Medal (1990) the American Society for Microbiology's Hoechst-Roussel Award (1990), the Lasker Award (1995), the Paul Ehrlich Prize (1996), and the Japan Prize (1999. Dr. Strominger was elected to the membership of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1968 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1970. | |
| 6 | Name: | Dr. Harold Varmus | | | Institution: | National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health | | | Year Elected: | 1994 | | | Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 202. Cellular and Developmental Biology | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1939 | | | | | | |
Harold Varmus, former Director of the National Institutes of Health and co-recipient of a Nobel Prize for studies of the genetic basis of cancer, served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City from 2000 until 2010. On December 20, 2008, Harold Varmus was appointed co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology by incoming President Obama. He was appointed Director of the National Cancer Institute in July 2010 and served through March 2015. He is currently Senior Advisor to the Dean and Provost at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.
Much of Dr. Varmus' scientific work was conducted during 23 years as a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, where he and Dr. J. Michael Bishop and their co-workers demonstrated the cellular origins of the oncogene of a chicken retrovirus. This discovery led to the isolation of many cellular genes that normally control growth and development and are frequently mutated in human cancer. For this work, Bishop and Varmus received many awards, including the 1989 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Varmus is also widely recognized for his studies of the replication cycles of retroviruses and hepatitis B viruses, the functions of genes implicated in cancer, and the development of mouse models for human cancer (the focus of much of the current work in his laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center).
In 1993, Dr. Varmus was named by President Clinton to serve as the Director of the National Institutes of Health, a position he held until the end of 1999. During his tenure at the NIH, he initiated many changes in the conduct of intramural and extramural research programs, recruited new leaders for most of the important positions at the NIH, planned three major buildings on the NIH campus, and helped to increase the NIH budget from under $11 billion to nearly $18 billion.
In addition to authoring over 300 scientific papers and five books, including an introduction to the genetic basis of cancer for a general audience, Varmus has been an advisor to the federal government, pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, and many academic institutions. He served on the World Health Organization's Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, chairs the Board of Directors of Public Library of Science and the Scientific Board of the Grand Challenges in Global Health, and is involved in initiatives to promote science in other countries. He has been a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences since 1984 and of the Institute of Medicine since 1991. His latest book, for which he won the 2009 Phi Beta Kappa Science Book Award, is a memoir entitled The Art and Politics of Science (2009). In 2011, he was awarded the Double Helix Medal from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
A native of Freeport, Long Island, Varmus is the son of Dr. Frank Varmus, a general practitioner, and Beatrice Varmus, a psychiatric social worker. After graduating from Freeport High School, he majored in English literature at Amherst College and earned a master's degree in English at Harvard University. He is a graduate of Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, worked as a medical student in a hospital in India, and served on the medical house staff at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. His scientific training occurred first as a Public Health Service officer at the NIH, where he studied bacterial gene expression with Dr. Ira Pastan, and then as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Bishop at the University of California, San Francisco.
He is married to Constance Casey, a journalist and horticulturist; their two sons, Jacob and Christopher, also live in New York City. | |
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