Meet Dr. Carol Greider

She'll accept the Alma Dea Morani award on November 3, 2017.

Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, and Carol Greider, PhD, are Nobel laureates who made a groundbreaking discovery in what makes cells mutate and age.

They began working together in the 1980s at the University of California at Berkley, where Dr. Greider was earning her PhD and Dr. Blackburn was her supervisor and mentor.

They proved to be trailblazers in molecular biology and genetics. In 2009, they shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine with Jack W. Szostak, PhD, a Harvard professor. Dr. Blackburn and Dr. Greider discovered the molecular nature of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that serve as protective caps that preserve genetic information, and co-discovered telomerase, an enzyme that maintains telomere ends.

It was the first time the Nobel Prize for Medicine was shared by two women. Since the prize was established in 1901, it has been awarded to 199 men and 12 women.

Dr. Greider is the director of Molecular Genetics and Biology at Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore where she has worked since 1997. She was born in San Diego into a family of academics. After completing her work at Berkeley, she continued her research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, N.Y.

In November, Dr. Greider will add to her stellar list of accomplishments the Alma Dea Morani, MD, Renaissance Woman Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving and advancing the legacy of women in medicine. The award recognizes an outstanding contemporary pioneer in medicine or science who has demonstrated professional excellence and a thirst for knowledge and service beyond her medical practice or scientific endeavors.

Dr. Greider will receive the award at Johns Hopkin’s University on November 3, 2017. The Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation is pleased to make the 18th Annual Alma Dea Morani, MD, Renaissance Women Award Presentation to Dr. Greider at the institution where she currently works, a venue which will allow Dr. Greider’s mentees and professional community to be in attendance. Unfortunately, Dr. Blackburn is not available to accept the Alma Dea Morani, MD, Renaissance Woman Award in person. 

Join us to meet Dr. Carol Greider, a pioneer and woman leader.