Frank Rothman, after receiving a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1955, switched to the new field of molecular genetics. He joined the faculty of Brown University in 1961, and taught courses in biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and aging, winning several teaching awards. His research on the regulation of gene expression in bacteria and cellular slime molds was funded by nine consecutive grants from the NSF. He was the founding director of the Graduate Program in Molecular and Cell Biology, and its training grant from NIGMS, now in its 31st year. From 1990-1995, he served as Provost, a role that involved him in all institutional issues regarding science, mathematics and engineering education. Since retirement in 1997, he has been active with the Progeria Research Foundation in research, and with Project Kaleidoscope on undergraduate science education.

2024

Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D.
Institute Professor and Professor of Biology Emeritus, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
“Biological Discovery as a Source of innovation - the RNA story" 

2023

Jane A. Driver, M.D., M.P.H., '90
Chief of Geriatrics and Extended Care Services at the VA Boston Healthcare System, Co-Director of the Older Adult Hematologic Malignancy Program at Dana Farber Cancer Institute
“How to Create an Age-Friendly Future" 

2022

Frances Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Acting Science Advisor to President Joe Biden, Former Director of the National Institutes of Health (2009-2021)
“Genomic Therapeutics: Seeking a Cure for Premature Aging" 

2021

Paula Span
New York Times Journalist
“On Growing Older: Aging, Caregiving, and Grandparenting" 

2019

Jodi Nunnari, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California - Davis
“Breathing for Eve: The Strangers Inside Our Cells" 

2018

Stefan Gravenstein, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Medicine and Health Services Policy and Practice, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown School of Public Health and Providence Veterans Hospital
“What Ma Pampo and Vaccines Might Tell “What Ma Pampo and Vaccines Might Tell Us About How We Get Old”

2017

Randy Schekman, Ph.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences; Nobel Laureate
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Berkeley
“How Cells Export Proteins”

2016

William Hall, M.D.
Fine Professor of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine
“Successful Aging: New Horizons”

2015

Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences; Nobel Laureate
Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences, University of California, Berkeley
“The Genome Engineering Revolution: Birth of a Technology”

2014

Martin Allen Samuels, M.D.
Sydney Joseph Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
“The Aging Brain: An Owner’s Manual”

2013

Craig Mello, Ph.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences; Nobel Laureate
Distinguished Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School
 “A Worm's Tale: Secrets of Inheritance and Immortality”

2012

Joseph F. Coughlin, Ph.D.
Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab
“How Technology Can Facilitate Successful Aging”

2011

Bonnie L. Bassler, Ph.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences
Squibb Professor of Molecular Biology, Princeton University
“How Bacteria Talk To Each Other”

2010

Terrie Wetle, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Medicine for Public Health and Public Policy; David Bowen, former Staff Director for Health of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America
“From Policy to Practice: What Health Care Reform Means for You”

2009

David C. Page, M.D.
Director of the Whitehead Institute, Professor of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Rethinking the Rotting Y Chromosome”

2008

Richard W. Besdine, M.D., Director, Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research and the Division of Geriatrics; Philip Gruppuso, M.D. Associate Dean for Medical Education; Vincent Mor, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Community Health; and Terrie Wetle, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Medicine for Public Health and Public Policy, Brown University
"Enhancing Care for Older Adults through Educational Interventions"

2007

David Botstein, Ph.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences
Anthony B. Evnin Professor of Genomics, Director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute of Integrative Genomics,
Princeton University
"How the Genome and the Computer Have Changed the Biomedical Sciences"

2006

Kay Redfield Jamison, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
"Mood Disorders and Artistic Creativity"

2005

Elizabeth Blackburn1, Ph.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences; Nobel Laureate
Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology, University of California at San Francisco
“Telomeres and Telomerase in Human Health and Disease”

2004

Leo M. Cooney, M.D.
Humana Foundation Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Chief of Geriatrics, Yale University School of Medicine
"Fulfillment in Later Life - Adapting to Changes with Aging"

2003

Joan Steitz, Ph.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences
Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University School of Medicine
“Lupus and Snurps: Uncovering an Extra Step in the Central Dogma”

2002

Mark Williams, M.D.
Ward K. Ensminge Distinguished Professor of Geriatric Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine
“The Truth About Aging”

2001

Jonathan Beckwith, Ph.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences
American Cancer Society Research Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School
"DNA as Destiny: Debunking the Myth"

1999

Jane Brody, M.S., Doctor of Humanities (hon.)
Personal health columnist, The New York Times
"Taking Charge of Your Health.”

1998

Alexander Rich, M.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences
Sedgwick Professor of Biophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"What Is Happening with Genes?"

1997

Barbara A. DeBuono, M.D., M.P.H,
New York State Commissioner of Health
"Do Republicans Wear Seat Belts?  Finding Common Ground in Politics and Public Health."

1996

H. Robert Horvitz 1,2, Ph.D.
Member, National Academy of Sciences; Nobel Laureate
Professor of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"Biology and Life."