Annual biochemistry and molecular genetics award recognizes a scientist whose molecular discovery has improved human health
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics announced today that distinguished biochemist Ron Evans, PhD, professor and director of the Gene Expression Laboratory and March of Dimes Chair in Molecular and Developmental Biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has been named the winner of the annual $250,000 Kimberly Prize in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics.
He received the prize for his fundamental discovery and characterization of nuclear hormone receptors and their applications for drug development and human health. He is known for his pioneering discovery of the nuclear receptor superfamily. This discovery unified endocrine physiology as a fundamentally new field, advancing our understanding of transcription networks and identifying previously unknown nuclear receptors and ligands. This ultimately led to the development of new drugs to treat human illnesses ranging from leukemia to liver disease, inflammation, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cancer.
Evans will deliver a public lecture on the Feinberg campus in Chicago, visit with faculty, fellows and students, and attend an award dinner on April 30, 2025.
“Dr. Evans has devoted his career to advancing our understanding of hormones and the roles they play in disease,” said Eric G. Neilson, MD, Lewis Landsberg Dean and Vice President for Medical Affairs. “A respected global scientific authority whose ideas have made important advances in therapeutics, he is an ideal recipient of the Kimberly Prize, which recognizes contributions to improving the health of humankind.”
“We are honored to have Dr. Ron Evans as the recipient of the 2025 Kimberly Prize. His body of work exemplifies what we look for in our Kimberly Prize winners for groundbreaking discoveries in biology with proven significance to human health,” said Ali Shilatifard, PhD, the chair and Robert Francis Furchgott Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and director of the Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics, which awards the annual Kimberly Prize.
“I am delighted to have been selected as this year’s recipient of the Kimberly Prize in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics,” Evans said. “This prize is special as it honors discoveries that unlock the doors to clinical applications, which is the ultimate goal of our work – having a direct impact on our most challenging diseases.”
About Ron Evans
Evans’ work centers on hormones, both their normal activities and their roles in disease. In 1985 his lab elucidated the complete structure of the human glucocorticoid receptor, which led to the discovery of a nuclear receptor superfamily for steroids, vitamins A and D, thyroid hormone, bile acids, fatty acids and cholesterol metabolites. These hormones activate transcriptional networks that control sugar, salt, calcium and fat metabolism, thereby influencing our daily health as well as treatment of disease.
Evans’ studies revealed that PPARg and a closely related homolog (PPARd) control the storage and burning of fat, respectively, providing new insights into the treatment of obesity and adult-onset diabetes (type 2 diabetes). His work has profoundly advanced our understanding of physiology and transcriptional regulation, while also directly impacting clinical medicine and drug therapy.
Evans is professor and director of the Gene Expression Laboratory, and holds the March of Dimes Chair in Molecular and Developmental Biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1989, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1997 and the National Academy of Medicine in 2003. He received the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 2004, and most recently, the 2024 Japan Prize in Medical Science and Pharmaceutical Science. He is listed by the Institute of Scientific Information as one of the 10 most cited scientists of the past two decades. He received his PhD in microbiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University.
More about the Kimberly Prize
The Kimberly Prize, given by Kimberly Querrey in honor of her late husband, Lou Simpson, a Northwestern trustee, alumnus and benefactor, is the largest biochemistry award offered in the United States by a university. It is awarded annually to a scientist who has made outstanding biochemical research contributions to the molecular basis of life with a direct demonstrated link of their discovery into the clinic that improves human health.
The prize is administered by Feinberg through the Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics.
In 2023, the inaugural award was presented to Jennifer A. Doudna, PhD, the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair and professor in the Departments of Chemistry and of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, for her fundamental biochemical studies providing molecular insight into the function of CRISPR/Cas systems as tools for genome editing and the application of her work to biology and medicine.
Craig Crews, PhD, the John C. Malone Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and professor of Chemistry, of Pharmacology, and of Management at Yale University received the 2024 award. Crews is also executive director of the Yale Center for Molecular Discovery. He received the prize for his pioneering work in the pharmaceutical field of targeted protein degradation.
Querrey has been instrumental in supporting Northwestern’s passion for basic molecular discoveries and their application to medicine.
“Our program is 100 percent supportive of doing innovative, cutting-edge science, here at Northwestern. Through this prize, we are recognizing nationally and internationally individuals who contribute to that process,” Shilatifard said. “Kimberly and Lou have always been great friends in supporting this extraordinary and essential mission of Northwestern University.”
