Titia de Lange, Charles D. Gilbert, Michael E. O’Donnell and Jeffrey V. Ravetch, members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The election was announced April 25 in Washington, D.C. The NAS is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln that calls on the Academy to act as an official advisor to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology. Membership in the NAS is one of the highest distinctions a scientist can receive. Titia de Lange is head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics; Charles Gilbert is head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology; Michael O’Donnell is head of the Laboratory of DNA Replication; Jeffrey Ravetch is head of the Leonard Wagner Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Immunology.

Paul Nurse, one of New York Magazine’s “Influentials” in the area of health, as published in the magazine’s May 15 issue. Dr. Nurse was chosen along with Antonio Gotto Jr., dean of Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and Harold Varmus, president and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, for their work with the Tri-institutional Stem Cell Initiative. “Gotto, Nurse and Varmus have managed to keep many of the field’s best scientists here and recruit others, at a time when New York is facing stiff competition for talent from states like California that have made stem cell research a top priority,” says New York. Dr. Nurse is head of the Laboratory of Yeast Genetics and Cell Biology. Jeffrey Friedman and David Ho were also honored by the magazine, as “Doctors without Peers: star specialists in critical disciplines.” Dr. Friedman, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, was named for the discovery of leptin, a hormone that plays a role in regulating body weight and has changed our understanding of the causes of human obesity. Dr. Ho, scientific director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, was honored for the development of ADMVA, an experimental AIDS vaccine that was approved for clinical trials by the FDA in December.

Elaine Fuchs, the 2006 Excellence in Science Award from the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology, for accomplishments in the elucidation of genetic skin disorders and the scientific modernization of dermatology. The award comes with a $10,000 unrestricted research grant funded by award sponsor Eli Lilly and Company. Dr. Fuchs’s award lecture, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, as part of the 2006 Experimental Biology Conference in San Francisco, was titled “Stem Cells and Their Lineages in Skin.” Dr. Fuchs is head of the Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development.

Elaine Fuchs, honorary doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana, Dr. Fuchs’s alma mater. The award was announced May 14 and will be conferred at the university’s June convocation ceremony. Dr. Fuchs received her bachelor of science degree in chemistry at Champaign-Urbana in 1972.

Elaine Fuchs, the 2006 Steven C. Beering Award for Advancement of Biomedical Science, from the Indiana University School of Medicine. The award honors an internationally recognized individual for outstanding research contributions to biomedical or clinical science. Dr. Fuchs will present her award lecture on October 31, 2006.

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This publication lists new hires, retirements, awards and promotions. Staff promotions are listed yearly in September; academic promotions and appointments are listed monthly. Please send notices of awards to zach.veilleux@rockefeller.edu or to Box 68.

June 09, 2006