Marilyn Gist Farquhar, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, was honored April 4, 2006 by the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB) with the 2006 Excellence in Science Award. The award recognizes research accomplishments by women in science.
The award, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, recognizes women scientists whose career achievements have contributed significantly to further understanding of a particular discipline. Due to the extraordinary number of qualified candidates this year, the committee took the unusual step of recommending two individuals this year. Elaine Fuchs, Ph.D., of Rockefeller University also was selected to receive the award.
Marilyn Gist Farquhar, Ph.D.
Farquhar has been Professor and Founding Chair of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at UC San Diego since 1990. She previously held positions as Professor of Pathology at the UCSF School of Medicine, Professor of Cell Biology at Rockefeller University, and Sterling Professor of Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine.
She is a pioneer in the study of cell structure and function, and is well known for her electron microscopy studies. Her cell biology laboratory focuses on the interplay between cell signaling and protein trafficking. She is recognized for her seminal work in the regulation of protein trafficking and signaling in endocrine and exocrine cells, and for defining the molecular mechanisms of glomerular filtration and pathology.
She has published nearly 300 papers in prestigious journals and has trained over 40 postdoctoral and graduate students. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Science and has received the Wilson Medal of the American Society of Cell Biologists, the Homer Smith Medal of the American Society of Nephrology, the Distinguished Scientist Medal of the EMSA, the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research (UCSD); the Rous-Whipple Award of the American Society for Investigative Pathology; and the A.N. Richards Award for Excellence in Research from the International Society of Nephrology. She has served as President of the American Society of Cell Biology, on the editorial boards of the Journal of Cell Biology, the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Molecular Medicine and currently serves on the Editorial Board of Molecular Biology of the Cell and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry.
She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco, and did Postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco and the Rockefeller University.
Farquhar’s FASEB Excellence in Science Award Lecture, entitled “G proteins and RGS proteins: Linking Trafficking and Signaling,” was presented April 4 at the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA during the Experimental Biology Conference. The abstract is found at http://www.faseb.org/excellenceinscience/pages/lecture_farquhar2006.htm
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Media Contact: Leslie Franz, 619-543-6163, lfranz@ucsd.edu