Mary-Claire King

APS Member, elected 2012

Mary-Claire King, professor of Genome Sciences and Medicine at the University of Washington, is known for three contributions to human genetics: the discovery that human and chimpanzees are 99% identical in coding sequences of genes; the hereditary genetics of breast cancer; and the development of DNA approaches to identifications for human rights.

As a child in Chicago, she was introduced to mathematical story problems by her father, who would pose them based on Cubs and White Sox baseball games. She studied mathematics as an undergraduate, but took a genetics course as a first-year graduate student at UC Berkeley and has never looked back.

Combining her background in mathematics and genetics, she constructed a theoretical model of inherited breast cancer from epidemiological data and began searching for experimental proof. It took 17 years, but in 1990, Dr. King was the first to identify the BRCA1 gene, revolutionizing breast cancer research and treatments. Since then, her research has delved further into the genetics of inherited cancers, severe mental illness and inherited disorders in children. She also created the approach of DNA sequencing and familial matching for human rights investigations.

Veronarindra Ramananjato

Lewis and Clark Field Scholar, 2021-2022

Veronarindra Ramananjato is a PhD student in Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is one of the youngest Malagasy scientists investigating the ecology of small-bodied and nocturnal lemurs in the rainforests of Madagascar. Such research inquiry has kept her curious to know more about these tiny creatures and motivated despite the hard work behind it. In 2022, she completed a APS-funded research project called “Traveling Seeds: How Do They Survive in Human-modified Landscapes?” For this research trip, she focused on the rufous mouse lemurs and their role in dispersing seeds in Ranomafana National Park in southeastern Madagascar. Ms. Ramananjato tracked lemurs in primary and secondary forests as well as a plantation area in order to compare the effects of humans on the lemur population and ultimately on their seed dispersal roles. To check how effective these mouse lemurs were as seed dispersers, she also assessed fecal samples and planted defecated seeds for further monitoring.

APS asks a scientist...

The APS surveyed Members who are female scientists to learn more about their lives and career paths. We asked climatologist Dr. Inez Y. Fung (APS 2014):

What is a piece of advice you would tell your younger self? What would you tell up-and-coming women in science?

Ground yourself in fundamentals in many branches of science. Be flexible. Old problems fade away to make room for new problems. Build your foundation upon which you can learn new things.

Joan Argetsinger Steitz

APS Member, elected 1992

Joan A. Steitz is the Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is renowned for her work on RNA and the role of small nuclear RNAs in eukaryotic cells. Her research has significant potential for the treatment of autoimmune disorders like lupus, which can result from complications in the RNA splicing process.

With her father's encouragement, Dr. Steitz pursued science from an early age. As an undergraduate, she participated in a co-op program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she received early experience in a lab environment. Though she was accepted into Harvard Medical School, she realized that her passion was truly in biochemistry, working with genetic material, and she began her PhD in the lab of James Watson.

Throughout her career, Dr. Steitz has also focused on her role as a mentor to new scientists and students. She even has a growing list of advice to her mentees that she passes down every year, encouraging them to take on challenging questions and prepare their own projects. Above all, she advises her mentees to share knowledge through the collaborative teaching and learning process.