For Women at the University
President Barack Obama honored the University of Chicago's Janet Rowley with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on August 12, 2009 at the White House.
Janet Davison Rowley, MD, a pioneer in demonstrating that cancer is a genetic disease, received the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Barack Obama awarded the Medals of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to Rowley and 15 others at a ceremony on Wednesday, August 12, 2009.
The Medal recognizes "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." Rowley is among a prestigious group of 2009 recipients, including Stephen Hawking, Billie Jean King, Harvey Milk, Sandra Day O'Connor, Sidney Poitier, and the Rev. Joseph Lowery.
First established in 1945, the medal was reinstated by President John Kennedy in 1963 to honor distinguished civilian service in peacetime. Among the ten previous Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients affiliated with the University of Chicago are scientist James Watson, economists Gary Becker and Milton Friedman, and historians Hanna Gray and John Hope Franklin.
Rowley received the award for her discovery of recurring chromosomal abnormalities in leukemias and lymphomas-findings that have revolutionized how cancer is understood and treated.
"These outstanding men and women represent an incredible diversity of backgrounds," said President Obama. "Yet they share one overarching trait: Each has been an agent of change. Each saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way. Their relentless devotion to breaking down barriers and lifting up their fellow citizens sets a standard to which we all should strive."
Pioneer of Personalized Cancer Care
"Janet Rowley's work established that cancer is a genetic disease," said Mary-Claire King, PhD, a geneticist at the University of Washington. "She demonstrated that mutations in critical genes lead to specific forms of leukemia and lymphoma, and that one can determine the form of cancer present in a patient directly from the cancer's genes. This changed the way cancer was understood, opened the door to development of drugs directed at the cancer-specific genetic abnormalities and created the paradigm that still drives cancer research."
"By showing that unique genetic abnormalities are the root cause of cancer, Rowley laid the foundation for personalized cancer care and targeted therapy," said Richard L. Schilsky, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and past president of the American Society for Clinical Oncology.
"Janet was a pioneer in what is now called ‘translational research,' the direct application of laboratory studies to understanding and treating human disease," added colleague, leukemia specialist Richard Larson, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. "She opened a window that allowed us to see the genetic basis of the leukemias and other cancers. She has also been a champion of international collaboration for the advancement of science."
Rowley, 84, the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, has received many honors, including both the Lasker Award and the National Medal of Science in 1998 and, most recently, this year's Genetics Prize from The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation. She continues to head an active laboratory that focuses on the connections between genetic changes and cancer, especially leukemia.
Despite the long list of previous honors, she said she was "flabbergasted" when the call came from the White House Monday afternoon. "I was in total disbelief. When I tried to tell my family I couldn't help crying. I was overwhelmed for 24 hours." <<Read more...>>
