Jeremy F. Reiter

Jeremy F. Reiter, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco has been selected by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to receive the 2008 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). This Presidential award is the nation's highest honor for scientists at the beginning of their professional careers.

Dr. Reiter's research focuses on the role of the proto-oncogene Smoothened and its interaction with the primary cilium in the development of cancer. This project is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Dr. Reiter's innovative work has the promise of changing notions about signal transduction pathways in development and disease.

Dr. Reiter is one of 11 NIH grantees out of 100 gifted biomedical researchers to receive this honor. Since the program began in 1996, NIH has funded a total of 153 PECASE recipients. A complete list of NIH-supported PECASE recipients and program information is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/pecase.htm. Awardees will be honored by President Barak Obama