San Francisco, CA June 9, 2000- 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 2000 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences.

Since 1985, the Trusts have provided more than $65 million for the support of 320 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. "After 15 years of funding the Scholars Program, 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 seek to encourage individual development and personal achievement, cross-disciplinary problem solving, and innovative, practical approaches to meet the changing needs of society.

The following is a complete list of the 2000 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences:

Berry II, Michael J., Ph.D. Princeton University Neuroscience Doublie, Sylvie, Ph.D. Univ. of Vermont and State Agricultural College Structural Biology Fleming, Mark D., D. Phil., M.D. Children's Hospital, Boston Molecular Genetics of Mitochondrial Heme and Iron Metabolism Golden, Barbara L., Ph.D. Purdue University Biochemistry Goldstein, Bob, Ph.D. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Cell Biology (& Developmental Biology, Genetics) Hanein, Dorit, Ph.D. The Burnham Institute Cell Motility and Signal Transduction Heginbotham, Lise R., Ph.D. Yale University Ion Channel Structure and Function Horton, Jay D., M.D. UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Lipid Metabolism/Molecular Basis of Human Disease Kedes, Dean H., M.D., Ph.D. University of Virginia Tumor Virology Kisker, Caroline F., Ph.D. SUNY at Stony Brook Structural Biology and Biochemistry

Ma, Qiufu, Ph.D. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Developmental Neurobiology Meluh, Pamela B., M.S., Ph.D. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Budding yeast Centromere Function & Cell Cycle Mullins, R. Dyche, Ph.D. University of California, San Francisco Cell Biology/Biochemistry Murthy, Venkatesh N., Ph.D. Harvard University Neurobiology O'Toole, George A., Ph.D. Dartmouth Medical School Microbial Pathogenesis and Development Sullivan, David J., M.D. The Johns Hopkins University Microbiology Van Doren, Mark B., Ph.D. The John Hopkins University Developmental Biology Wilson, Thomas E. , M.D. Ph.D. University of Michigan DNA Repair, molecular pathology Wu, Hao, Ph.D. Cornell University Structural Biology Zamore, Phillip D., Ph.D. University of Massachusetts Medical School Biochemistry