Rosalind E. Franklin Award

Given at the annual NCI Intramural Retreat, this prize honors the commitment of women in cancer research. It is given in tribute to Dr. Franklin, an accomplished chemist and X-ray crystallographer who played a critical role in the discovery of the DNA double helix structure.

Past Award Winners

2023 - Elizabeth M. Jaffee, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, "Converging on a Cure for Pancreatic Cancer"

2022 - Christine Friedenreich, Cancer Care Alberta, Alberta Health Services, “Physical Activity Across the Cancer Continuum: From Discovery to Recommendations”

2021 - Sara Courtneidge, Oregon Health & Science University, "Invadopodia-mediated Effects on Both Invasive Behavior and the Tumor Immune Microenvironment"

2019 - Flora E. van Leeuwen, Netherlands Cancer Institute, "Second Malignancy Risk After Cancer Treatment: From Old Medical Records to Survivorship Care Programs"

2018 - Mary Beckerle, Huntsman Cancer Institute, "Interface between cytoskeletal dynamics and tumor biology"

2017 - Silvia Franceschi, International Agency for Research on Cancer, “The unequal burden of cancer attributable to infections across the world”

2016 - Kornelia Polyak, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, "2016 Rosalind Franklin Award Recipient"

2015 - Lisa M. Coussens, Oregon Health and Science University, "13th Rosalind E. Franklin Award for Women in Science"

2014 - Valerie Beral, University of Oxford, "Rosalind Franklin and Cancer in Women"

2012 - Titia de Lange, The Rockefeller University, "How Telomeres Solve the End-Protection Problem"

2011 - Kathryn Bloch Horwitz, University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus, "Origin of Luminal vs. Basal Breast Cancer Subtypes: Control by Steroid Hormones and Notch Signaling"

2010 - Leslie Bernstein, City of Hope National Medical Center, "Reducing Breast Cancer Risk Through Biology, Epidemiology, and Serendipity"

2009 - Carol Prives, Columbia University, "New Insights into p53 and Mdm2"

2008 - Nancy Davidson, Johns Hopkins University, "Epigenetics and Breast Cancer"

2007 - Alice Whittemore, Stanford University, "Preventing Deaths from Breast and Ovarian Cancer"

2006 - Joan A. Steitz, Yale University, "More Surprises of snRNPs"

2005 - Joan S. Brugge, Harvard Medical School, "Probing Mechanisms of Breast Epithelial Oncogenesis in a 3D Culture Model"

2004 - Janet Rowley, University of Chicago, "Analysis of Gene Expression in Leukemia in the 21st Century"

2003 - Margaret Spitz, MD Anderson, "An Approach to Studying Genetic Susceptibility of Lung Cancer"

2002 - Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institute, no title