Lucy Shapiro, Pioneering Biologist, Will Receive 2014 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from The Rockefeller University

Lucy Shapiro, professor of developmental biology at Stanford University School of Medicine, will receive the 2014 Pearl meister Greengard Prize, which celebrates the achievements of outstanding women in science, from The Rockefeller University. Shapiro’s work in developmental biology illuminated the mechanisms that control the differentiation of cells in all living things, from the simplest organisms to the most complex.

“The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize spotlights the extraordinary role women play in the sciences,” said Nobel Laureate Paul Greengard, who is Vincent Astor Professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at The Rockefeller University. “By highlighting the work of today’s most accomplished female researchers, we hope to show young women that not only is it possible to succeed in the STEM fields, it’s possible to change the way we see the world. Dr. Shapiro’s work is exemplary of that premise.”

Greengard, along with his wife, sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard, founded the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize in 2003, named in honor of Greengard’s mother, who died during his birth. Greengard dedicated his Nobel honorarium to provide the seed funding for what he envisioned as a yearly salute to women’s accomplishments in what remains a male-dominated field. Over the past 11 years, a generous group of University donors has joined the Greengards in support of the Prize.

“It is a great honor to receive an award that recognizes the contributions of women in science and highlights our presence in the wonderful journey of scientific discovery,” Shapiro said. “All science, now more than ever, is a collaborative effort and through the years I have shared the rich experience of gleaning scientific insights with a cadre of women and men of amazing abilities.”

Winners of the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize, who receive a $100,000 honorarium, are selected by a committee of ten extraordinary scientists, five of them winners of the Nobel Prize.

The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize ceremony is open to the public, but registration is required. For more information, please visit greengardprize.rockefeller.edu.