Lily Jan named Harvard Foundation’s 2005 Scientist of the Year

Award-winning biophysicist Lily Jan was named the 2005 Scientist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation of Harvard University. Jan will be awarded the foundation’s medal at the annual Science Conference ceremony on Friday (March 18) at Pforzheimer House.”We are delighted that Lily Jan has been selected for the Harvard Foundation science award,” said Harvard Dean Benedict Gross. “She is an outstanding biophysicist and leader in science.”Jan received a bachelor of science degree from the National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. in physics and biophysics from the California Institute of Technology. She is presently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator at the University of California, San Francisco. Jan, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, has won numerous scientific awards including the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, the W. Alden Spencer Award, and the K.S. Cole Award. In her doctoral studies, she and her laboratory team determined the DNA sequence of a potassium channel in fruit flies. Jan and her team recently discovered a key protein (Dasm1) that regulates the growth and activation of neural connections in the brain.”Dr. Lily Jan is one of the leading biophysicists in the world today, and a very important role model for students and scholars of all backgrounds,” said Harvard Foundation Director S. Allen Counter. “We are proud to welcome her to Harvard as our 2005 Scientist of the Year.”The Harvard Foundation, Harvard’s pre-eminent center for intercultural arts and sciences initiatives, honors the nation’s most acclaimed artists and scientists each year. Previous Scientists of the Year have included Jonathan David Farley, renowned mathematician; Ellen Ochoa, NASA astronaut; the Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, then chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Mario Molina, Nobel laureate in chemistry and specialist in ozone decomposition; and Jaime Escalante, distinguished mathematics teacher (of “Stand and Deliver” fame).