Mary-Claire King

Mary-Claire King (born February 27, 1946) is an American geneticist. She was the first to show that breast cancer can be inherited due to mutations in the gene she called ''BRCA1''. She studies human genetics and is particularly interested in genetic heterogeneity and complex traits. She studies the interaction of genetics and environmental influences and their effects on human conditions such as breast and ovarian cancer, inherited deafness, schizophrenia, HIV, systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. She has been the American Cancer Society Professor of the Department of Genome Sciences and of Medical Genetics in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington since 1995.

Besides known for her accomplishment in identifying breast cancer genes, King is also known for demonstrating that humans and chimpanzees are 99% genetically identical and for applying genomic sequencing to identify victims of human rights abuses. In 1984, in Argentina, she began working in identifying children who had been stolen from their families and adopted illegally under the military dictatorship during the Dirty War (1976–1983). She has received many awards, including the Lasker Award and the National Medal of Science. In 2002, ''Discover'' magazine recognized King as one of the 50 most important women in science. Provided by Wikipedia