|
|
|
Winter Storm Hits Maryland, Part 3
|
Hopkins Professor Receives Nobel Medicine Award
Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)
|
|
|
The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy
Click to enlarge
Johns Hopkins University School Of Medicine
A Johns Hopkins professor nabs one of the highest honors in the country: a Nobel Prize. It's the first time two women share the prize for working in the field of medicine.
Derek Valcourt has more on the professor and the school's shared excitement.
The news broke Monday morning. It's the 33rd time someone associated with the school has won a Nobel Prize.
"My heart just started really racing at that time," said Dr. Carol Greider.
Greider is at the center of a media blitz Monday, after learning that she was one of three Americans to win a Nobel Prize in medicine this year.
"I got a call at five o'clock in the morning and I was ready to go out for my spin class and I realized I wasn't going to be going to spin class. So I emailed my spinning buddies and told them I can't go to spin class because I won the Nobel Prize," she said.
Her chromosome research--far too complicated to explain in detail--has to do with her 1984 discovery of a special enzyme. The work is leading to new lines of cancer treatment research.
It's a proud day for Johns Hopkins.
"Someone like Carol who has been working on this problem for decades and at times been part of a very small group of people who have been thinking about the importance of this line of discovery, it is a very powerful affirmation of the power of curiosity-driven research," said Johns Hopkins President Ron Daniels.
"The number of women in science that are really doing high-powered research is quite remarkable, and the total number of Nobel Prizes that have gone to women has been kind of lagging behind," Greider said.
When she's not researching, she's raising two children.
"Well, she acts really smart," said her daughter, Gwendolyn Comfort.
Both of them are excited for their mom and promise to keep her grounded.
"She was feeling really nervous and we were kind of helping her and she's still just your mom," said her son, Charles Comfort.
People might make predictions of who might win, but one never expects it, she said, adding that, "It's like the Monty Python sketch: 'Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"'
She will officially receive the Nobel Prize and her share of the $1.4 million cash award at a ceremony on Dec. 10.
President Woodrow Wilson was the first person associated with Johns Hopkins to win a Nobel Prize for his work in 1919 founding the League of Nations.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
|
Local News
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments