February 12, 2010

Vanderbilt Prize winner slated for Discovery Lecture

Vanderbilt Prize winner slated for Discovery Lecture

Susan Taylor, Ph.D., winner of the 2009 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science, will deliver the next Discovery Lecture on Feb. 18.

Taylor, whose research has advanced understanding of how proteins are regulated in the body, will receive the prize during the lecture, which will begin at 4 p.m. in 208 Light Hall.

Susan Taylor, Ph.D.

Susan Taylor, Ph.D.

The prize honors women who have made significant advances in the biological and biomedical sciences and who have contributed positively to the mentorship of other women in science. It includes a $25,000 award to Taylor and names a Vanderbilt Prize Student Scholar who is a woman in the early phase of graduate training.

This year's Vanderbilt Prize Student Scholar is Elizabeth Dong, who is working toward her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in Vanderbilt's Medical Scientist Training Program. Dong has completed two years of medical school and is enrolled in the Chemical & Physical Biology graduate program.

Taylor, professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a member of the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.

In 1991, Taylor and her colleagues at UCSD solved the crystal structure of the first protein kinase, an enzyme that can regulate the function of other proteins. She has continued to advance understanding of how these crucial molecules work.

For more information about the Vanderbilt Prize, including a list of previous winners, go to https://medschool.vander-bilt.edu/dean and click on “Vanderbilt Prize.”

For a complete schedule of the Discovery Lecture series and archived video of previous lectures, go to www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/discoveryseries.