In Memoriam

Joshua Lederberg, Ph.D., (1925-2008) Founding Chairman

Dr. Lederberg was President-Emeritus and Sackler Foundation Scholar at The Rockefeller University, New York. His life long research, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1958, was in genetic structure and function in microorganisms. Among his many honors, he was a member of the National Academies of Science, and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1989. He had long had a keen interest in international health, and was actively engaged in the building of international collaboration and collective defenses against emerging infections of global impact. In 2006, Dr. Lederberg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award. He was also awarded the American Federation for Aging Research Award of Distinction in the same year. Dr. Lederberg was instrumental in the creation of The Ellison Medical Foundation at the behest of Lawrence Ellison. He organized the Scientific Advisory Board in 1997 and served as Chair until his death in February, 2008.

Scientific Advisory Board

George M. Martin, M.D., Chairman

Dr. Martin is Professor of Pathology Emeritus (Active) at the University of Washington, where he has also served as Adjunct Professor of Genome Sciences, Founding Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program and Founding Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and a Past-President of the Gerontological Society of America, the American Federation for Aging Research and the Tissue Culture Association. His research is concerned with genetic approaches to the study of aging and age-related diseases. Contributions have included the development of research programs that led to the cloning and characterization of the mutation responsible for the Werner syndrome, a prototypic human segmental progeroid syndrome, and to characterizations of gene actions responsible for autosomal dominant forms of dementias of the Alzheimer type.

Helen M. Blau, Ph.D.

Dr. Blau is the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Professor, the Director of the Baxter Laboratory in Genetic Pharmacology, and the Director of Gene Therapy Technology at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Harvard University’s Board of Overseers. She has received many awards for her work in aging and stem cell research.

Eric R. Kandel, M.D.

Dr. Kandel is University Professor at Columbia and a Senior Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His research has been concerned with the molecular mechanisms of memory storage, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 2000. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences as well as the National Science Academies of Germany and France. He has also been recognized with the Albert Lasker Award, the Wolf Prize of Israel and the National Medal of Science. In 2006, Dr. Kandel received the Dart/NYU Biotechnology Achievement Award.

Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D.

Dr. Levine is a Professor at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, New Brunswick and at the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He is a leading authority on the molecular basis of cancer and co-discoverer of the p53 tumor suppressor protein, one of the body's most important defenses against many forms of cancer. He is a past-President of The Rockefeller University, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and recently received the first Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research.

Martin Raff, M.D.

Dr. Raff is Emeritus Professor in the Biology Department and MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology and Cell Biology at University College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of Academia Europaea, a foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, past president of the British Society of Cell Biology, and a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and served as an adviser to the NAS in formulating its Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (2005). He received The Biochemical Society Award in 2006.

Gerald Weissmann, M.D.

Dr. Weissmann is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Biotechnology Study Center at the New York University School of Medicine. His research interests are primarily in the areas of pathogenesis of inflammation and mechanism of action of anti-rheumatic drugs. Dr. Weissmann received the Presidential Gold Medal from the American College of Rheumatology in 2005 and was named one of 50 research heroes by the Arthritis Foundation. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Medicine, the Royal Society of Medicine (London) and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome). He is also Chairman of the Jury of the International Prix Galien (2010) and Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal.