Genetics Society of America announces 2013 award recipients

Public release date: 15-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Phyllis Edelman pedelman@genetics-gsa.org 301-634-7302 Genetics Society of America

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 year's 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:

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.

In addition to his scientific achievements, Dr. Petes has mentored numerous outstanding scientists and has been an active member of GSA, having served as both secretary (1995) and president (2002) of the Society. He has been honored by election to the National Academy of Sciences (1999) and as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2005), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005), and the American Academy of Microbiology (2009).

The Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal is named in honor of Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866), the classical geneticist who was a founder of modern genetics and the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recipient for his studies of Drosophila and "the role played by the chromosome in heredity." The Morgan Medal recognizes genetics researchers whose body of work over their lifetime has substantively added to knowledge in the field and consequently has had great impact on its direction.

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Genetics Society of America announces 2013 award recipients