Women in Science and Engineering at Yale (2020 Edition)

Joan Steitz, Ph.D.

Sterling Professor, Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

At Yale, Joan Steitz established a laboratory dedicated to the study of RNA structure and function. In 1979, she and her colleagues described a group of cellular particles called small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), a breakthrough in understanding how RNA is spliced. Subsequently, her laboratory has defined the structures and functions of other noncoding RNPs. Today her studies of noncoding RNAs include microRNAs. She is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine. Her many honors include the U.S. Steel Foundation Award in Molecular Biology (1982), the National Medal of Science (1986), the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award (2002), the FASEB Excellence in Science Award (2003), the RNA Society Lifetime Achievement Award (2004), the E.B. Wilson Medal (2005), Gairdner Foundation International Award (2006), and the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, shared with Elizabeth Blackburn (2008). In 2018, she received the Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science for leadership in RNA biology and in scientific mentorship, an award that is often a precursor to winning a Nobel Prize. She is the recipient of 19 honorary degrees.