Accolades: Researchers, Networks, and Prizewinning Science at Yale School of Medicine

Joan Steitz, PhD

Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Joan Steitz first encountered DNA during an internship in Alexander Rich’s laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She went on to work with and learn from renowned researchers, including James Watson, Francis Crick, and Joseph Gall, but noted that she had few women mentors. As Steitz’s success grew, she recognized her potential as a role model for other women scientists. Steitz’s work on RNA machines, including snRNPs, has foundational implications for the development of RNA therapeutics for certain cancers and genetic diseases, as well as the COVID-19 vaccine. For these contributions, she has been honored with the Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award (2018), and membership in the National Academy of Sciences (1983) and National Academy of Medicine (2005). She has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 1986.