First Women Investigators Earn Top Biomedical Research Prize

Two U.S. investigators engaged in RNA research--Joan Steitz, Ph.D., from Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA) and Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., from the University of California, San Francisco (USA)--became the first women to win the prestigious Albany Medical Center Prize, one of the richest awards available for biomedical research.

Dr. Steitz won for her work in identifying the role of small ribonucleoproteins in creating messenger RNA, a key focus in current drug research. Dr. Blackburn won for her research involving telomeres, which holds chromosomes together. High levels of telomerase help prevent cardiovascular problems but also contribute to cancer risks. Those insights have helped identify new medical therapies.

The two researchers have also helped blaze a path for more women in research. "We were pretty lonely,” Dr. Steitz recalled of her early days in the largely male scientific community. "I remember sitting on the committees for years where I was the only woman, and things have changed now.”

The Albany Medical Center Prize (Albany, NY, USA) serves to encourage and recognize extraordinary and sustained contributions to improving healthcare and promoting innovative biomedical research. Awarded annually, the US$500,000 prize is the largest prize in medicine in the United States and is bestowed to any physician or scientist, or group, whose work has led to significant advances in the fields of healthcare and scientific research with demonstrated translational benefits applied to improved patient care.


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Albany Medical Center Prize