The March of Dimes Richard B. Johnston Jr. MD Prize

Saturday, March 16, 2024
8:30 a.m. - 9:20 a.m.

The March of Dimes Richard B. Johnston, Jr., MD Prize honors an outstanding scientist who has advanced the science that underlies our understanding of pregnancy, birth, and prenatal development. This award, named in honor of Dr. Johnston, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado and a former Medical Director at March of Dimes, was created as a tribute to Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine. It is part of March of Dimes’ research strategy to address the multi-faceted nature of the maternal and child health crisis. To date, six recipients have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The recipient of the 2024 March of Dimes Richard B. Johnston, Jr., MD Prize is Dr. Marisa Bartolomei, PhD. Over her 30-year career, Dr. Bartolomei has made instrumental discoveries on the function and expression of certain genes, called imprinted genes. These genes, whose proper expression is critical for healthy pregnancy and fetal development, can be severely affected by numerous factors, including environmental exposures throughout life and pregnancy.

Dr. Bartolomei is a Co-Director of the Epigenetics Institute at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, where she is also the Perelman Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology.

March of Dimes will present the award at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation in Vancouver, Canada on March 16, 2024.

More information can be found here.