Twenty-Two of America's Most Promising Scientists Selected as 2011 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences
PHILADELPHIA — Twenty-two of America’s most promising scientists have been named Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The 2011 Pew Scholars will join a select community that includes MacArthur Fellows, recipients of the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award and three Nobel Prize winners. Research by the new class of Scholars is related to many human diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s to diabetes to ocular degeneration. The program encourages early-career scientists to advance research that leads to important medical breakthroughs and treatments.
“Pew is pleased to provide this country’s most ambitious and dedicated scientists with timely funding that enables them to explore novel areas of investigation early in their careers, at what may be the most inventive and creative period in their research,” said Rebecca W. Rimel, president and CEO of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
To date, the program has invested more than $125 million to fund over 500 scholars. It is a rigorously competitive program where recipients receive $240,000 over four years to pursue their research without restriction. Applicants who work in all areas of physical and life sciences related to biomedical study must be nominated by an invited institution and demonstrate both excellence and innovation in their research. This year, 175 institutions were requested to nominate a candidate and 136 eligible nominations were received.
“Early recognition of young scientists with ideas that challenge their fields is essential for the vitality of the biomedical sciences,” said Craig C. Mello, Ph.D., a 1995 Pew Scholar, a 2006 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine and the chair of the national advisory committee for the program. “From my own experience as a Pew Scholar and member of the advisory board, this program gives young scientists the confidence to pursue risky projects, and to push the boundaries of their fields, planting the seeds for major scientific advancements. I welcome these promising scientists into the Pew Biomedical Scholars family and look forward to watching as their research unfolds in the years ahead.”
Photo from the lab of 2011 Pew Scholar James Moseley. In fission yeast cells, the methyltransferase Skb1 (green) localizes to cortical puncta that are excluded from growing cell ends (blue). Skb1 coordinates cell growth patterns with the cell division cycle.
The new 2011 Pew Scholars are:
Scholars 1–22 of 22
| Scholar / Institution / Award Year | Title / Department / Research Field | |
|---|---|---|
 |
Christine M. Dunham, Ph.D. Emory University 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Biochemistry Biochemistry and Structural Biology |
 |
Thomas G. Fazzio, Ph.D. University of Massachusetts Medical School 2011 |
Assistant Professor Program in Gene Function and Expression Stem Cells and Epigenetics |
 |
Max L. Fletcher, Ph.D. University of Tennessee Health Science Center 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology Neuroscience |
 |
Hunter B. Fraser, Ph.D. Stanford University 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Biology Human Genetics, Genomics |
 |
Melissa K. Gardner, Ph.D. University of Minnesota 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Genetics, Cell Biology & Development Cell Biology, Biophysics |
 |
Mary Gehring, Ph.D. Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research 2011 |
Member and Assistant Professor Department of Biology, MIT Epigenetics and Genomics |
 |
Jeff Gore, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Physics Biophysics, Evolutionary Systems Biology |
 |
Takaki Komiyama, Ph.D. University of California, San Diego 2011 |
Assistant Professor Section of Neurobiology Neuroscience |
 |
Mei Kong, Ph.D. City of Hope National Medical Center 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Tumor Cell Biology Signal transduction, Cancer metabolism |
 |
Michael S. Kuhns, Ph.D. University of Arizona 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Immunobiology Immunology |
 |
Erica Larschan, Ph.D. Brown University 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biochemistry Epigenetics |
 |
Eros Lazzerini Denchi, Ph.D. Scripps Research Institute 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Genetics Aging and Stem Cell Biology |
 |
Ann C. Morris, Ph.D. University of Kentucky 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Biology Developmental Neurobiology, Genetics |
 |
James B. Moseley, Ph.D. Dartmouth College 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Biochemistry Cell biology |
 |
Suzanne M. Noble, M.D, Ph.D. University of California, San Francisco 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases Fungal pathogenesis and commensalism |
 |
Brad J. Nolen, Ph.D. University of Oregon 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Chemistry Structural biology, Regulation of the cytoskeleton |
 |
Chad G. Pearson, Ph.D. University of Colorado, Denver 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Cell and Developmental Biology Cell division and cytoskeleton |
 |
Sharad Ramanathan, Ph.D. Harvard University 2011 |
Assistant Professor FAS Center for Systems Biology Systems Neuroscience, Systems Biology |
 |
Anthony R. Richardson, Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Microbiology & Immunology Microbiology, Immunology |
 |
Niels Ringstad, Ph.D. New York University 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Cell Biology Neuroscience |
 |
Georgios Skiniotis, Ph.D. University of Michigan 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Biological Chemistry Structural Biology, Membrane Receptor Signaling |
 |
Liang Zhou, M.D, Ph.D. Northwestern University 2011 |
Assistant Professor Department of Pathology Immunology and Gene Regulation |
