Newswise BETHESDA, MD -- October 15, 2012 -- The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce its 2013 award recipients. The five individuals honored are recognized by their peers for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the community of geneticists. They will receive their awards at GSA conferences during 2013.

This years award winners are an outstanding group of individuals who have all contributed in such powerful ways to the field of genetics in research, in education, and in fostering the genetics community. The GSA awards provide an opportunity for the genetics community as a whole to say a heartfelt thank you and to recognize those whose impressive achievements have advanced the science of genetics, said Phil Heiter, PhD, President of GSA.

The recipients of the 2013 GSA Awards are as follows:

Thomas D. Petes, PhD (Duke University) is awarded the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal for lifetime contributions in the field of genetics.

Elaine A. Ostrander, PhD (National Institutes of Health, National Human Genome Research Institute) is awarded the Genetics Society of America Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of genetics in the last 15 years.

R. Scott Hawley, PhD (Stowers Institute for Medical Research) is awarded the George W. Beadle Award for outstanding contributions to the community of genetics researchers.

A. Malcolm Campbell, PhD (Davidson College) is awarded the Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education, which recognizes significant and sustained impact in genetics education.

Jonathan K. Pritchard, PhD (HHMI and University of Chicago) is awarded the Edward Novitski Prize, which recognizes an extraordinary level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity in solving a significant problem in genetics research. Additional information about each of the awards and the recipients achievement is listed below.

Recipient: Thomas D. Petes, PhD, Duke University Award: The Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal

Dr. Petes is the Minnie Geller Professor in Genetics in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. He has made seminal research contributions that have furthered the understanding of the mechanisms of DNA damage and repair using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system. His insights into comprehending genome stability and instability extend far beyond this model system, laying the foundation for much of our knowledge about how human cells replicate, protect, repair and combine their chromosomes. This has provided crucial understanding in identifying the gene defects of the most common form of hereditary colon cancer and in other human diseases.

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Genetics Society of America Announces 2013 Award Recipients