(Please see list below for winners from your city or institution)
Seventeen graduate students from around the nation have been selected to receive the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, newly established by the Basic Sciences Division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
The recipients, all advanced students at or near the completion of their studies in
the biological sciences, will participate in a scientific symposium May 5-6 at the
Hutchinson Center.
Nominations were solicited internationally; the winners were selected on the
basis of the quality, originality and significance of their work.
The symposium will include scientific presentations by the awardees as well as
poster presentations by Hutchinson Center graduate students.
The award was created in honor of the late Harold M. Weintraub, Ph.D., a
founding member of the Center's Basic Sciences Division who in 1995 died from brain cancer at age 49. Weintraub was an international leader in the field of molecular biology; among his many contributions, he identified genes responsible for instructing cells to differentiate, or develop, into specific tissues such as muscle and bone.
"Hal was one of the most outstanding scientists of his generation, as well as one
of the most unpretentious. Hal had the knack of identifying the important questions in biology and designing experimental approaches that were creative, simple and elegant," says Mark Groudine, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center's Basic Sciences Division.
"By nurturing colleagues, students and postdocs, and helping all of us become
better scientists, Hal was instrumental in establishing the collegial atmosphere at the Center. We believe having a symposium recognizing the achievements of young scientists is a great way to honor Hal and the recipients of this award," Groudine says.
The award recipients will receive a certificate, travel expenses and an honorarium
from the Hutchinson Center's Weintraub and Groudine Fund, established to foster intellectual exchange through the promotion of programs for graduate students, fellows and visiting scholars.
Editor's note: A complete list of Weintraub Graduate Student Awardees follows. Research summaries and CV's are available upon request. For more information, please call Kristen Woodward, (206) 667-5095.
Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award Recipients 2000
Research summaries and CV's are available upon request
Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, Texas)
Sara Kaye Evans
Doctoral student, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Duke University (Durham, N.C.)
Daniel N. Cox
Ph.D. in 1999 from Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, Duke University
Currently a postdoctoral fellow at Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute,
University of California, San Francisco
Katharine E. Winkler
Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle)
Natalya Yudkovsky
Graduate research student in the Hutchinson Center's Basic Sciences Division
Ph.D. candidate, Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology (joint program of the Hutchinson Center and the University of Washington)
Harvard University (Boston, Mass.)
Sandeep Robert Datta
Graduate student in the Division of Neuroscience, Department of Neurology,
Children's Hospital; and the Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
Adriana Donovan
Ph.D. program, Division of Medical Sciences; Biological Biochemical Sciences
The Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.)
Xian-Zhong Shawn Xu
Ph.D. candidate, School of Medicine
Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Scott Gradia
Ph.D. in genetics, 1999
Currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Molecular and Cell
Biology at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California (Berkeley)
James R. Mitchell
Ph.D. candidate, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Russell E. Vance
Ph.D. program in Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California (Los Angeles)
Tim Lebestky
Graduate student, Molecular Biology Institute
University of California (San Diego)
Richard L. Lin
Graduate student in Molecular Pathology, School of Medicine; and the Salk Institute,
La Jolla, Calif.
University of California (San Francisco)
Jonathan Alexander
Ph.D. in biochemistry,1999
Currently working on medical degree
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Scott T.R. Walsh
Ph.D. candidate, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of Utah (Salt Lake City)
Su Li
Ph.D. candidate, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine
University of Washington (Seattle)
Matthew C. Gibson
Graduate student, Department of Zoology
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
Jennifer J. Kohler
Graduate student, Department of Chemistry
CONTACT: Kristen Woodward
(206) 667-5095 or kwoodwar@fhcrc.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26,2000
For the Media