VOLUME 12, NUMBER 21 • MAY 4, 2001

Women & Science Program to Host Spring Luncheon

President of mental health organization will receive the Brooke Astor Award

More than three hundred women from New York’s business and philanthropic communities will gather at The Rockefeller University for the fourth annual Women&Science Lecture and Luncheon on Thurs., May 17.

At this year’s event, Constance E. Lieber, founding president of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, will be presented with the university’s Brooke Astor Award. Then Rockefeller University President Arnold J. Levine and Assistant Professor Theresa Gaasterland will present a lecture entitled "Biology Enters the Information Age: Combating Illness with Per-sonalized Medicine."

The Women&Science program was established by The Rockefeller University in 1998 to provide a forum for women to learn about current scientific research and to raise support for women scientists. Participants have a chance to learn more about recent discoveries related to women’s health concerns and to meet many of the women who are leaders in science.

Since the program began, more than 700 women from New York’s business and philanthropic circles have participated in these forums and have contributed funds to support post-doctoral women researchers.

The Brooke Astor Award is given on special occasions to a woman in the philanthropic, business, or scientific community whose work has been instrumental in furthering scientific research in the service of humankind.

Under the leadership of this year’s recipient, Constance Lieber, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression has become an enormously successful partnership between the public and the private psychiatric profession, raising and contributing more than $109 million to 1,310 scientists working on schizophrenia and depression.

Proceeds from the Women&Science Lecture and Luncheon will support fellowships for young women scientists. To date, $705,000 has been raised in the Women&Science initiative this year to support women graduate and postdoctoral fellows at Rockefeller. This is a significant increase from the $300,000 raised last year. These fellowships reflect the university’s commitment to basic biomedical investigations and to expanding opportunities for women in science.