Dear Colleagues, 

Please continue to share important news and opportunities with us so that we may share it with you and others who are committed to supporting the careers of exceptional women in science.

Stay safe and sound,

Karla Shepard Rubinger
Executive Director
Rosalind Franklin Society
www.rosalindfranklinsociety.org

Obesity-drug pioneers win the prestigious Lasker Award for medical science.

Three scientists involved in developing the blockbuster anti-obesity drugs that are currently changing the healthcare landscape are among the winners of this year’s prestigious Lasker Awards. Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Lotte Bjerre Knudsen will share a US$250,000 prize. Read more. Image via Lasker Foundation.

Meet the Winners of the 2024 Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award.
Quarraisha Abdool Karim and Salim Abdool Karim have tracked the HIV epidemic in South Africa, identified the disproportionate burden of infection in vulnerable young women in Africa, developed and tested new HIV prevention technologies for women, and assisted international leaders in addressing the global HIV epidemic. Read more.

University of Arizona Global Campus assistant dean recognized with Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award.

Karen Ivy, a professor, and assistant dean with the University of Arizona Global Campus, was honored by the White House with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to several communities and industries, including aerospace, manufacturing, information technology, and health care. Read more. (Image via The University of Arizona)

The Charles Bronfman Prize is accepting nominations.
The Charles Bronfman Prize is an award of $100,000 presented to a humanitarian under the age of fifty whose innovative work, fueled by their Jewish values, has significantly improved the world. The prize accepts nominations in all areas of humanitarian work across a broad spectrum of disciplines. Read more.

USDA Invests Nearly $121M in Specialty Crops Research and Organic Agriculture Production.
The investment includes $70.4 million to support specialty crop production research across the United States and $50.5 million to support farmers and ranchers who grow and market high-quality organic food, fiber, and organic products. “We know specialty and organic crops add nutrition to our diets and value to sustainable agriculture systems,” said Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. Read more.

Cleveland Clinic mourns the loss of Dr. Charis Eng.

Dr. Charis Eng was a pioneer in genetic and genomic medicine, and her legacy will remain not only in the programs she founded but also with the generations of trainees she inspired. Born and raised in Singapore, Dr. Eng dedicated her life to medicine and biomedical sciences for the benefit of humankind. Read more. (Image via Cleveland Clinic)

America’s Best and Worst Colleges for Women in STEM.
America is facing a shortage of the scientists and engineers needed in some of our fastest-growing industries. The U.S. semiconductor sector, for instance, will have about 67,000 unfilled jobs by the end of this decade. The simplest way to meet this human resource demand is for more women to major and graduate in STEM fields. Read more.

2025 Winner of the Elaine Redding Brinster Prize in Science or Medicine.

The Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has awarded the 2025 Elaine Redding Brinster Prize to Dr. Mary-Claire King for her pioneering work on a genetic basis for breast cancer. Dr. King proved the existence and precise location of variants of the BRCA1 gene responsible for inherited predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer. Read more. (Photo by Steven Dewall via University of Pennsylvania)

UConn Trustee Creates Breakthrough Women’s Leadership Initiative.
Jeanine Armstrong Gouin has made an undisclosed gift to endow the Jeanine Armstrong Gouin Initiative for Women in Leadership at the UConn College of Engineering. Read more.

Women Sweep The 2024 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.
The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences have named three women scientists as Laureates of the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. It’s the second consecutive year that all three of the Blavatnik Laureates have been women. Read more.

Heinz Family Foundation Names Leaders of iNaturalist and Women’s Earth Alliance Recipients of the 29th Heinz Awards for the Environment.

Amira Diamond and Melinda Kramer receive the Heinz Award for the Environment for their work founding and leading the Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA), which seeks to protect the environment, end the climate crisis, and ensure a just, thriving world by empowering women-led climate initiatives and eco-enterprises. Read more. (Photo by Joshua Franzos)

Susan Harkema, Ph.D., joins Kessler Foundation as Director of Consortium Growth for Spinal Stimulation.
Dr. Harkema is nationally recognized for her research in the field of spinal cord injury, neural plasticity, and neuromodulation. She held the position of professor in the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the University of Louisville for more than 20 years. Read more.

Polina Anikeeva named head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT.

Polina Anikeeva’s research sits at the intersection of materials chemistry, electronics, and neurobiology. By bridging these disciplines, Anikeeva and her team are deepening our understanding and treatment of complex neurological disorders. Read more. (Photo by Lillie Paquette)

 We are pleased to welcome the first members of our new Council of Corporate Leadership!