Carol W. Greider, who on Monday became the 33rd person associated with the Johns Hopkins University to win the Nobel Prize, is a triathlete, a mother of two and a methodical and modest genetic researcher who colleagues say shuns publicity in favor of pursuing her passion: fundamental, curiosity-driven science.
Greider's breakthrough that won the ultimate scientific honor dates back two decades. During that time she has been catapulted to the top of her field - showered with grants, accolades and coveted prizes. And yet, news of the Nobel Prize left her breathless.
"My heart just started racing," she said.
Her rise to pioneering scientist and professor of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine began on Christmas Day 1984. The ambitious 23-year-old graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, was so excited about an experiment she was conducting, she went to the empty lab to check on its progress. What she detected on a piece of X-ray film led to the discovery of an enzyme called telomerase, a substance that plays a crucial role in the genetic life of cells and holds promise for developing treatments to fight cancer and age-related diseases.
"Carol is a classical, iconic scientist in the sense that she does her work quietly and doesn't seek the limelight and yet makes substantive discoveries like telomerase," said Dr. Chi Van Dang, the Hopkins medical school's vice dean for research. "She's very methodical, very thorough, and works passionately. Every piece of her work is like a masterpiece. She doesn't like to sketch things and throw them out."
Greider, 48, joins just nine other women who have won the Nobel Prize for medicine and physiology of the 192 winners since the awards were first handed out in 1901. (In all categories from 1901 to 2008, just 35 women have won the prize, compared with 754 men.) Greider shares the award - which includes a total cash prize of $1.4 million - with Elizabeth Blackburn, a professor of biochemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, and Jack Szostak of Harvard Medical School. It's the first time the prize has been awarded to more than one woman.
"A scientist, a teacher, a department chair, a mom, you're really a lady for all seasons," Dr. Peter C. Agre, a Hopkins researcher awarded the Nobel Prize in 2003, said during a news conference at Hopkins medical school attended by many admiring colleagues. "We bask in your glory."
