Lucy Shapiro, PhD.

D.K. Ludwig Professor, Department of Developmental Biology
Director, Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine,
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA

"for the discovery of mechanisms that define cell polarity and asymmetric cell division, processes key in cell differentiation and in the generation of cell diversity"

                                            2009 Canada Gairdner International Award

Lucy Shapiro is a Professor in the Department of Developmental Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine where she holds the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Chair in Cancer Research and is the Director of the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.  She joined the faculty of  Stanford University School of Medicine in 1989 and served as the founding Chair of the Department of Developmental Biology from 1989-1997.  Prior to coming to Stanford, Professor Shapiro was the Higgins Professor and Chair of Microbiology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, and prior to that she held the Lola and Saul Kramer Endowed Chair at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she was Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology.

Professor Shapiro is a member of the Board of Advisors of The Pasteur Institute, The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs.  She was a member of the Board of Directors of SmithKline Beecham, PLC, Silicon Graphics, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline, PLC, and she currently serves on the Board of Directors of Gen-Probe, Inc. She founded the anti-infectives discovery company, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, in 2001 and is a member of the Anacor Board of Directors.  Professor Shapiro has been the recipient of multiple honors, including: the FASEB Excellence in Science Award, the UC Berkeley Hitchcock Professorship, and election to the Institute of Medicine, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. She was awarded the 2005 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.