Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement congratulating molecular biologist Elizabeth H. Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, who today was named to receive the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine.  Dr. Blackburn shares the award with Carol W. Greider of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Jack W. Szostak of Harvard Medical School for their discovery of an enzyme that plays a key role in normal cell function, as well as in cell aging and most cancers.

“Dr. Elizabeth H. Blackburn is a champion of innovation and an example of the best in America's scientific community.  She is an inspiration to all women pursuing careers in the fields of technology, engineering, and mathematics.  Her Nobel Prize is a tribute to San Francisco's entrepreneurial spirit and to our nation's continued leadership in the fields of science and medicine.

“Dr. Blackburn's groundbreaking discovery represents more than one small step for biological research - it is a giant leap forward in the battle for a cure to cancer and other devastating diseases.  Thanks to her work, patients will get better care; doctors will have better tools for treatment; and future generations of researchers will gain a critical building block for the next wave of discovery.

“I offer my warmest congratulations to Dr. Blackburn, her colleagues, Carol W. Greider of Johns Hopkins University and Jack W. Szostak of Harvard Medical School, and all of the administrators and researchers of UCSF.  Their work is truly changing the way we look at our future.”