2011 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize Ceremony
| Thursday, November 3, 2011 6:00 p.m. Registration 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Prize Presentation 7:30 - 8:00 p.m. Reception Free admission |
Caspary Auditorium The Rockefeller University York Avenue at 66th Street For more information: Amanda Martinez at (212)327-7728 martina@rockefeller.edu |
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Recipient:
Brenda Milner, Ph.D.
The Dorothy J. Killam Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery
The Montreal Neurological Institute
McGill University
This year’s Pearl Meister Greengard Prize recognizes pioneering neuropsychologist Brenda Milner, whose seminal work has uncovered key connections between the structure of the human brain and the inner experience of consciousness.
Her transformative research began in the 1950s with a single patient who had lost the ability to retain new memories as a result of brain surgery. Working with this patient on varied learning tasks, Dr. Milner showed that declarative memory—the ability to recall a particular name or face, for example—relies on neural systems that are distinct from those underlying the capacity for verbal communication or motor skills, such as riding a bicycle.
This groundbreaking insight led to a distinguished career investigating fundamental problems such as language processing in the brain and how the brain reorganizes itself to preserve certain functions following injury.
Renowned as a teacher as well as a biomedical investigator, Dr. Milner has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society. A recipient of the Gairdner Foundation International Award, she has been named a Companion of the Order of Canada.
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Special Guest Speaker:
Michelle Bachelet, M.D.
Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women
President of Chile, 2006-2010
Michelle Bachelet, a trained pediatrician and epidemiologist, served as Chile’s health minister prior to her election to the nation’s presidency in 2006. Currently, she heads the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, where she advocates for the increased inclusion of women’s voices in public life and the implementation of policies that protect the health, safety and security of women globally.
The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize, awarded annually by The Rockefeller University, was established by Dr. Paul Greengard, the University’s Vincent Astor Professor, and his wife, the sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard. Dr. Greengard donated his monetary share of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Medicine to Rockefeller and, in partnership with generous supporters of the University, created this major international prize which carries a $100,000 honorarium. Named in memory of Dr. Greengard’s mother, who died giving birth to him, the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize provides recognition of the accomplishments of women in science.
