The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize is an award for women scientists in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

given annually by the

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

. The Prize was founded by Nobel laureate

Paul Greengard Paul Greengard (December 11, 1925 – April 13, 2019) was an American neuroscientist best known for his work on the molecular and cellular function of neurons. In 2000, Greengard, Arvid Carlsson and Eric Kandel were awarded the Nobel Prize for ...

and his wife

Ursula von Rydingsvard Ursula von Rydingsvard (née Karoliszyn; born 1942) is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for creating large-scale works influenced by nature, primarily using cedar and other forms of timber. Early life and ...

in honor of Greengard's mother, Pearl Meister Greengard, who died giving birth to him. Greengard began funding the award in 1998. Greengard donated the full share of his 2000 Nobel Prize to the fund, and was able to use his new publicity to attract additional funding for the award, which was launched in 2004. The award is meant to shine a spotlight on exceptional female scientists, since, as Greengard observed, "

omen An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient times, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages fr ...

are not yet receiving awards and honors at a level commensurate with their achievements." The award includes a $100,000 honorarium (previously $50,000). Two recipients of the Prize,

Carol Greider Carolyn Widney Greider (born April 15, 1961) is an American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate. She joined the University of California, Santa Cruz as a Distinguished Professor in the department of molecular, cell, and developmental biology ...

and

Elizabeth Blackburn Elizabeth Helen Blackburn, (born 26 November 1948) is an Australian-American Nobel laureate who is the former president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Previously she was a biological researcher at the University of California, S ...

, have gone on to receive the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

. One recipient,

Jennifer Doudna Jennifer Anne Doudna (; born February 19, 1964) is an American biochemist who has done pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, and made other fundamental contributions in biochemistry and genetics. Doudna was one of the first women to share a ...

, received the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

Winners

Source
Rockefeller University
* Nicole Marthe Le Douarin (2004) * Philippa Marrack (2005) *

Mary Frances Lyon Mary Frances Lyon (15 May 1925 – 25 December 2014) was an English geneticist best known for her discovery of X-chromosome inactivation, an important biological phenomenon. Early life and education Mary Lyon was born on 15 May 1925 in Norwic ...

(2006) *

Gail R. Martin Gail Roberta Martin (née Zuckman, born 1944) is an American biologist. She is professor emerita in the Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco. She is known for her pioneering work on the isolation of pluripotent stem cell ...

Beatrice Mintz Beatrice Mintz (January 24, 1921 – January 3, 2022) was an American embryologist who contributed to the understanding of genetic modification, cellular differentiation, and cancer, particularly melanoma.Martha J. Bailey, ''American women in ...

Elizabeth Robertson Elizabeth Jane Robertson is a British developmental biologist based at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford. She is Professor of Developmental Biology at Oxford and a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow. She is ...

(2007) *

, Vicki Lundblad (2008) *

Suzanne Cory Suzanne Cory (born 11 March 1942) is an Australian molecular biologist. She has worked on the genetics of the immune system and cancer and has lobbied her country to invest in science. She is married to fellow scientist Jerry Adams, also a WE ...

(2009) *

Janet Rowley Janet Davison Rowley (April 5, 1925 – December 17, 2013) was an American human geneticist and the first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers, thus proving that cancer is a genetic disease. ...

and

Mary-Claire King Mary-Claire King (born February 27, 1946) is an American geneticist. She was the first to show that breast cancer can be inherited due to mutations in the gene she called ''BRCA1''. She studies human genetics and is particularly interested in g ...

(2010) *

Brenda Milner Brenda Milner (née Langford; July 15, 1918) is a British-Canadian neuropsychologist who has contributed extensively to the research literature on various topics in the field of clinical neuropsychology. Milner is a professor in the Department ...

(2011) *

Joan Steitz Joan Elaine Argetsinger Steitz (born January 26, 1941) is Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is known for her discoveries involving RNA, incl ...

(2012) * Huda Y. Zoghbi (2013) *

Lucy Shapiro Lucy Shapiro (born July 16, 1940, New York City) is an American developmental biologist. She is a professor of Developmental Biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Res ...

(2014)Medicine's Scope blog
Stanford scientist Lucy Shapiro: “It never occurred to me to question the things I wanted to do”
November 11, 2014 *

Helen Hobbs Helen Haskell Hobbs, M.D., (born May 5, 1952 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, who won a 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences an ...

(2015) *

Bonnie Bassler Bonnie Lynn Bassler (born 1962) is an American molecular biologist; the Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology and chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University; and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She ha ...

(2016) *

JoAnne Stubbe JoAnne Stubbe is an American chemist best known for her work on ribonucleotide reductases, for which she was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2009. In 2017, she retired as a Professor of Chemistry and Biology at the Massachusetts Institut ...

(2017) *

(2018) *

Xiaowei Zhuang Xiaowei Zhuang (; born January 1972) is a Chinese-American biophysicist who is the David B. Arnold Jr. Professor of Science, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Professor of Physics at Harvard University, and an Investigator at the H ...

(2019) *

Joanne Chory Joanne Chory is an American plant biologist and geneticist. Chory is a professor and director of the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical In ...

(2020) * Pamela Björkman (2021) *

Katalin Karikó Katalin Karikó ( hu, Karikó Katalin, ; born 17 January 1955) is a Hungarian-American biochemist who specializes in RNA-mediated mechanisms. Her research has been the development of in vitro- transcribed mRNA for protein therapies. She co-fo ...

(2022)

References

External links

Pearl Meister Greengard Prize Website
The Rockefeller University

The Huffington Post, November 3, 2011

The New York Times, October 10, 2000
Spending the Nobel Prize
The Scientist, September 29, 2006

Time Magazine, October 10, 2008
How One Nobel Laureate Gave Another A Hand
CBS Evening News, December 6, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Meister Greengard Prize Science awards honoring women Biology awards Awards established in 2004 2004 establishments in New York City Rockefeller University

Winners

See also

References

External links