Biotechnology Heritage Award Past Recipients

Past Recipients of the Biotechnology Heritage Award

Ronald E. Cape.		Ronald E. Cape, 2007 Ronald E. Cape has worked in the biotechnology industry for more than 30 years. He is currently a partner at PureTech Ventures in Boston. Cape cofounded Cetus Corporation in 1971 and served as its chairman for 20 years and CEO for 13 years. A pioneer in genetic engineering, Cetus developed a technology that was ultimately awarded a Nobel Prize; in 1991 the company merged with Chiron Corporation. Cape was also the founding chairman of Darwin Molecular Corporation, which was later sold to Chiroscience. Cape serves on the boards of EntreMed and Neurobiological Technologies. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has also served on the boards of Princeton University, Rockefeller University, the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Board of Regents at the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Alejandro Zaffaroni.		Alejandro Zaffaroni, 2006 A native of Montevideo, Uruguay, Alejandro Zaffaroni received a B.Sc. from the University of Montevideo in 1941 and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Rochester in 1949. In 1951 Zaffaroni joined Syntex Corporation, a small chemical company in Mexico that was prominent in steroid research. He played a key role in transforming Syntex into a major pharmaceutical company that pioneered the development of the birth control pill. Eventually he became president of Syntex Laboratories and president of Syntex Research Institute. In 1968 Zaffaroni resigned from Syntex and established ALZA Corporation to pursue the concept of improving medical treatment through controlled drug delivery. ALZA is now the acknowledged leader worldwide in this important field; the company was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2001. Zaffaroni also founded DNAX, Symyx, Maxygen, and SurroMed. In 1995 Zaffaroni was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Clinton in recognition of contributions to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.This medal is the highest award that the United States bestows for individual achievement in science and technology.

Paul Berg.		Paul Berg, 2005 Paul Berg is Cahill Professor of Cancer Research, Emeritus, at Stanford University School of Medicine and director emeritus of Stanford's Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine. Berg joined the faculty of the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1959 and was chairman of the Department of Biochemistry from 1969 to 1974. A Nobel laureate, he is one of the principal pioneers in "gene splicing." Berg, along with his colleagues Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger, was honored with the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing methods that make it possible to map the structure and function of DNA. Berg initiated a voluntary moratorium on recombinant DNA research in 1974 and was the principal organizer of the now-famous 1975 Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA, where scientists discussed the potential safety issues arising from this new technology. The Asilomar conference was a milestone in the history of science, marking the beginning of attempts to study the social implications of scientific progress and to mitigate against negative social impact. Berg is also perhaps the leading public advocate for the continued use of stem cells in medical research, strongly opposing existing federal restrictions and lobbying and testifying before Congress about the potential for precipitating medical advances using stem-cell technology. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he also is a past president of the American Society of Biological Chemists and a Fellow of the French Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London. He is a former chairman of the National Advisory Committee of the Human Genome Project.

Leroy Hood.		Leroy Hood, 2004 Leroy Hood is president and cofounder of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, a nonprofit research institute established to pioneer systems approaches to biology and medicine. He has also cofounded numerous biotechnology companies, including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Systemix, Darwin, Rosetta, and MacroGenics. Hood earned an M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the California Institute of Technology. He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers and coauthored several textbooks. He also coedited Code of Codes, a book about scientific, social, and ethical issues raised by genetic research. At Caltech, Hood and colleagues pioneered the DNA and protein synthesizers and sequencers that constitute the technological foundation for contemporary molecular biology and have revolutionized genomics by allowing the rapid automated sequencing of DNA. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Association of Arts and Sciences, Hood’s many awards and honors include the Lasker Award, the Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology, and the Lemelson-MIT Prize for Invention and Innovation.

William J. Rutter.		William J. Rutter, 2003 William Rutter is cofounder of Chiron Corporation and former director of the Hormone Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Rutter joined the faculty of UCSF in 1969 as Herzstein Professor and served as chair of the department of biochemistry and biophysics until 1982. As chair he spearheaded the drive to turn the department and the School of Medicine into leading research organizations, with emphasis on an interdisciplinary molecular approach. From 1983 through 1989, he was director of UCSF’s Hormone Research Institute. He became professor emeritus in 1991. In 1981 Rutter cofounded Chiron, a leading biotechnology company dedicated to preventing and treating disease worldwide. He served as chairman of its board from its inception until 1999. He has also served on the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and several private company boards. He has received many honors, including the Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy, and Employment.

Walter Gilbert. Phillip Sharp. Both photos copyright Jowdy Photography.		Walter Gilbert and Phillip A. Sharp, 2002 Walter Gilbert, a molecular biologist, shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1980 for his development of a method for determining the sequence of nucleotide links in the chainlike molecules of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). He developed the technique of using gel electrophoresis to read the nucleotide sequences of DNA segments. In 1979 he joined a group of other scientists and businessmen, including Phillip A. Sharp, to form Biogen, a commercial genetic-engineering research corporation. Gilbert resigned from Biogen in 1984 and, while continuing to teach at Harvard, became a chief proponent of the Human Genome Project. Phillip Sharp shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine (with Richard J. Roberts) for the discovery of "split genes." Sharp and Roberts independently discovered that individual genes are often interrupted by long sections of DNA that do not encode protein structure. In 1977 Sharp and his team found that the messenger RNA of an adenovirus corresponds to four separate, discontinuous segments of DNA, and that the segments of DNA that code for proteins are separated by long stretches of DNA that do not contain genetic information. Sharp did his prize-winning research at the MIT.


Francis S. Collins. Copyright Jowdy Photography. J. Craig Venter. Copyright Jowdy Photography.		Francis S. Collins and J. Craig Venter, 2001 Francis S. Collins and J. Craig Venter are honored for their key roles in the sequencing of the human genome. In June 2000 the National Human Genome Research Institute and Celera Genomics, led by Collins and Venter, respectively, published the precise sequence of the four chemical bases of DNA along human chromosomes, marking a milestone for biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, and the pharmaceutical sciences. Collins is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and chief of Genetic and Molecular Biology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 1992, he assumed leadership of the Human Genome Project. Previously, Collins was professor of Internal Medicine and Human Genetics and chief of Medical Genetics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Medical School. Collins’s research on "positional cloning" allowed for the identification of genes responsible for diseases, including those for cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease. Venter is president of Celera Genomics, senior vice president of Applera (Celera’s parent company), and a trustee of The Institute of Genomic Research, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1992. Venter led the effort to sequence the human genome using the whole-genome shotgun sequencing approach. Previously he served on the pharmacology and biochemistry faculties of the State University of New York, Buffalo, and he was a section chief with the NIH's Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke.


Herbert Boyer. Courtesy University of California, San Francisco.		Herbert W. Boyer and Robert A. Swanson, 2000 With the public launch of Genentech in 1976, Herbert W. Boyer and Robert A. Swanson, the company’s cofounders, created the biotechnology revolution of the late 1970s. Since 1976, Boyer has served as a director of Genentech, now a leading biotechnology company best known for manufacturing and marketing biopharmaceutical products. He is professor emeritus of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco as well as chairman of the board of Allergan, a technology-driven global healthcare company. Boyer is known for his work in developing recombinant DNA technology, and has been the recipient of many prestigious awards including the Swiss Helmut Horten Research Award, the Industrial Research Institute Achievement Award, the Golden Plate Award, and the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. He has published more than 100 scientific articles. Swanson served as CEO and chairman of the board of Genetech from 1976 to 1996. A venture capitalist, Swanson recognized the importance of the commercialization of genetic engineering in the early 1970s. His foresight and vision helped create the biotechnology industry. In 1996 he joined Tularik as chairman of the board until his untimely death on 6 December 6 1999. Swanson was the pioneer of a new industry and the force behind a whole new era of modern medicine based upon recombinant DNA technology. e-winning research at the MIT.


George Rathmann.		George B. Rathmann, 1999 George B. Rathmann served as chairman, president and CEO at Amgen from its inception in 1980 to 1988, and as chairman from 1988 to 1990. Rathmann is known for his contributions to the development of Epogen, a red-blood-cell stimulant and billion-dollar drug that has provided huge benefits to dialysis patients; the development of numerous tests to detect pregnancy and certain diseases in early stages; and the development of Scotchgard, one of 3M’s most successful products. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and serves on the boards of the National Science and Technology Medal Foundation, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Keystone Center, PhRMA, Somatogen, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Rathmann was named by Business Week as "one of the biotech industry’s visionary entrepreneurs" and has received numerous awards and honors, including the Bower Award, the Seaborg Medal, and the BioPharm Achievement Award.