Gierasch chosen for American Chemical Society prize
Lila Gierasch, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Chemistry, has been selected to receive the 2006 Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal from the American Chemical Society (ACS).
“This is one of the society's most prestigious awards,” said Danny J. Schnell, professor and acting head of the department. “It was established in 1936 and is given annually for distinguished service to chemistry by women chemists.”
The award, which includes a $5,000 prize, a medallion with a presentation box and a certificate, will be presented to Gierasch in March during the 231st national meeting of the ACS in Atlanta.
Gierasch joined the faculty in 1994 as professor and head of the Chemistry Department, which she led for five years until her appointment as professor and head of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She stepped down as department head Aug. 31, but is serving as graduate program director.
A leading authority on protein chemistry, Gierasch has focused much of her on proteins and the three-dimensional shapes that they spontaneously form within cells. The research has implications for diseases and disorders as seemingly disparate as Alzheimer's disease, cystic fibrosis, bovine encephalitis, an inherited form of emphysema, and even certain cancers.
Gierasch is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), ACS, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biophysical Society, American Society for Cell Biology, American Peptide Society and the Protein Society and has served on committees and councils of many of the organizations.
She also served on the Chemical Sciences Roundtable of the National Research Council, the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council of the National Institutes of Health and an advisory committee of the Directorate for Math and Physical Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Gierasch has also organized professional conferences and symposia and was a member of the U.S. national committees of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics. In 1997, she chaired the national committee for IUPAB.
She has been awarded A.P. Sloan and Guggenheim fellowships, an NSF Predoctoral Fellowship and a French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fellowship. She is a fellow of the AAAS and was awarded an honorary degree by Mount Holyoke College in 2002. On campus, she received the Chancellor’s Medal as a Distinguished Faculty Lecturer as well as a Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship and an Outstanding Service Award from the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Prior to coming to UMass Amherst, she taught at Amherst College, University of Delaware, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She did her undergraduate work in chemistry at Mount Holyoke College, and earned her doctorate in biophysics from Harvard University.
More Information
ACS 2006 awards
September 4, 2005.
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