San Francisco, CA June 11, 2001- Continuing to support a new generation of biomedical researchers, The Pew Charitable Trusts has chosen 20 of America's most promising biomedical researchers to be the 2001 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences.

Since 1985, the Trusts have provided more than $69 million for the support of 340 scholars. Each of the scholars, who are junior faculty members at medical schools and research institutions across the United States will receive a total award of $240,000 to help support his or her research over a four-year period. The awards, which are granted to young investigators who show outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences, are intended to encourage scholarly innovation in their research and to help them advance the state of knowledge in the biomedical sciences. The awards provide flexible support to the scholars as they establish their laboratories and continue their research in areas ranging from AIDS to cancer to childhood infectious diseases and to diseases affecting the elderly.

"These young scientists are the lifeblood of the research community," said Rebecca W. Rimel, president of The Pew Charitable Trusts. "We continue to see great value in nurturing outstanding young scientists to become tomorrow's leading investigators at the forefront of their fields."

This year, nominations from more than 120 institutions were received. The scholars were chosen by a 16-member national advisory committee appointed by the board of directors of The Pew Charitable Trusts and chaired by Dr. Torsten N. Wiesel, president emeritus of the Rockefeller University, and a 1981 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, a national philanthropy based in Philadelphia, support nonprofit activities in the areas of conservation and the environment, culture, education, health and human services, public policy and religion. Through their grantmaking, the Trusts make strategic investments that encourage and support citizen participation in addressing critical issues and effecting social change.

The following is a complete list of the 2001 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences:

Chen, Chinfei, M.D., Ph.D. Children's Hospital Neurobiology Chen,Qing C., M.D., Ph.D. Oregon Health Sciences University Immunology Cox, Jeffery S. Ph.D.. University of California, San Francisco Bacterial Pathogenesis Ducy, Patricia F., Ph.D. Baylor College of Medicine Genetics Eisen, Michael B., Ph.D. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Bioinformatics, Clinical Genomics Epstein, Douglas J., Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania Developmental Biology Garcia, K. Christopher, Ph.D. Stanford University School of Medicine Structural Biology Goode, Bruce L., Ph.D. Brandeis University Cytoskeleton Dynamics Harris, Eva, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley Virology Leone, Gustavo W., Ph.D. The Ohio State University Tumor Models for Breast Cancer

McAllister, A. Kimberley, Ph.D. University of California, Davis Neurobiology Rongo, Christopher G., Ph.D. Rutgers The State University of New Jersey Genetics/Neuroscience Sanchez, Yolanda, Ph.D. University of Cincinnati Cell Cycle Checkpoints Schilling, Thomas F., Ph.D. University of California, Irvine Developmental Genetics Shin, Myung K., Ph.D. Fox Chase Cancer Center Developmental Biology Stukenberg, P. Todd, Ph.D. University of Virginia Medical School Regulation of Chromosome Segregation Tan, Song, Ph.D. The Pennsylvania State University Structural Biology of Gene Regulation Xu, Zhaohui, Ph.D. University of Michigan Structural Biology Zandi, Ebrahim, Ph.D. University of Southern California Mechanism of Signal Transduction Zhang, Gongyi, Ph.D. National Jewish Medical and Research Center Structural Biology