Zoghbi to receive Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science

Dr. Huda Zoghbi, professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor, has been named to receive the 2015 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science.

She is the 10^th recipient of the award given by the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to recognize women scientists with a stellar record of research accomplishment who also have mentored other women in science.

Prize winners receive an honorarium, deliver a Flexner Discovery Lecture, meet with Vanderbilt faculty and mentor Vanderbilt Prize Scholars – women who are pursuing graduate studies in the biomedical sciences at the medical school.

Zoghbi will receive the prize April 21, 2016, when she is scheduled to give the Flexner Discovery Lecture at Vanderbilt.

“Huda Zoghbi’s progression from a young woman interested in science to one of the world’s foremost physician-scientists working on the genetic bases of neurological diseases is fascinating and inspiring,” said Dr. Lawrence Marnett, associate vice chancellor for research and senior associate dean for biomedical science at Vanderbilt.

Zoghbi has been instrumental in finding the genes for Rett Syndrome, spinal cerebellar ataxia 1 and IMath1, which is essential for generation of inner ear hair cells.

She is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences and has received numerous awards throughout the years. She is committed to mentoring young scientists, and one-fourth of her former trainees are women.