Three Women to Be Honored by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology announced today the winners of its annual awards. Colleagues and other leaders in the field nominated the winners for making significant contributions to biochemistry and molecular biology and to the training of emerging scientists. Among the honorees are:

Hao Wu, a professor at Harvard Medical School, was selected to receive the Bert & Natalie Vallee Award in Biomedical Science. The award recognizes an established scientist for outstanding accomplishments in basic biomedical research. Dr. Wu’s lab uses cryo-electron microscopy and other biophysical methods to understand molecular complexes involved in innate immunity. Professor Wu studied medicine at Peking Union Medical College in China. She holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Margaret Phillips, chair of the biochemistry department at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, will receive the Herbert Tabor Research Award. The award is given for outstanding, innovative accomplishments in biological chemistry and molecular biology and contributions to the community of scientists. Her lab studies essential enzymes controlling pyrimidine biosynthesis in the parasite that causes malaria and polyamine synthesis in the trypanosome that causes sleeping sickness. Professor Phillips earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Francisco.

Shana Stoddard is an associate professor of chemistry, the founding director of the STEM Cohort Mentoring Program, and in 2021 was the inaugural director for student mentoring at Rhodes College in Memphis. She will receive the Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award which honors an outstanding scientist who has shown a sustained commitment to breaking down local and/or systemic barriers against scientists and students from historically marginalized or excluded groups. Dr. Stoddard’s lab, which hosts about 10 undergraduates each year, does protein structure modeling and analysis, structural biology, and drug design. Stoddard holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Mississippi.