San Francisco, CA June 16, 2003 – Continuing to support a new generation of biomedical researchers, The Pew Charitable Trusts has chosen 20 of America’s most promising biomedical researchers to be the 2003 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences.

Since 1985, the Trusts have provided more than $91 million for the support of 380 scholars. Each of the scholars, who are junior faculty members at medical schools and research institutions across the United States will receive a total award of $240,000 to help support his or her research over a four-year period. The awards, which are granted to young investigators who show outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences, are intended to encourage scholarly innovation in their research and to help them advance the state of knowledge in the biomedical sciences. The awards provide flexible support to the scholars as they establish their laboratories and continue their research in areas ranging from AIDS to cancer to childhood infectious diseases and to diseases affecting the elderly.

“The Scholars bring an immense amount of talent, creativity and curiosity to their scientific investigations, and The Pew Charitable Trusts are proud to nurture their work,” said Rebecca W. Rimel, the Trusts’ president and CEO. “Over the years, the scientists in this program have courageously followed their intuition when it led them into new areas of research, and they have significantly advanced their fields of work. We applaud their success and welcome the new class of Scholars into this community of investigators.”

This year, nominations from more than 120 institutions were received. The scholars were chosen by a 15-member national advisory committee appointed by the board of directors of The Pew Charitable Trusts and chaired by Dr. Torsten N. Wiesel, president emeritus of the Rockefeller University, and a 1981 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, a national philanthropy based in Philadelphia, support nonprofit activities in the areas of conservation and the environment, culture, education, health and human services, public policy and religion. Through their grantmaking, the Trusts make strategic investments that encourage and support citizen participation in addressing critical issues and effecting social change.

The following is a complete list of the 2003 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences:

Baumann, Peter E., Ph.D. Stowers Institute for Medical Research Molecular Genetics of Chromosome Stability Castillo, Pablo E., M.D., Ph.D. Yeshiva University Neuroscience Chen, Jue, Ph.D. Purdue University Structural Biology of Membrane Protein Cortez, David K., Ph.D. Vanderbilt University Cell Cycle and Cancer Biology Coscoy, Laurent, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley Infectious Diseases - Microbiology Dorsky, Richard I., Ph.D. University of Utah Developmental Neurobiology Guo, Wei, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania Cell Biology Higgs, Henry N., Ph.D. Dartmouth Medical School Cell Biology / Biochemistry Holy, Timothy E., Ph.D. Washington University Neurobiology Hong, Kyonsoo, Ph.D. New York University School of Medicine Developmental Neurobiology

Jacobs-Wagner, Christine, Ph.D. Yale University Microbiology Jallepalli, Prasad V., Ph.D. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Molecular Biology Karzai, A. Wali, Ph.D. State University of New York at Stony Brook Microbiology/Bacterial Pathogenesis Lykke-Andersen, Jens, M.S., Ph.D. University of Colorado, Boulder RNA turnover Moody, D. Branch, M.D. Brigham and Women's Hospital Immunology, T cells Oegema, Karen F., Ph.D. University of California, San Diego Cell Biology Riek, Roland P., Ph.D. The Salk Institute Structural Biology Sabatini, David M., Ph.D. Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Control of Growth Serio, Tricia R., Ph.D. Brown University Molecular Biology Van Hoof, Ambro, Ph.D. UT Health Sciences Center at Houston Molecular Genetics / mRNA metabolism