"She was a remarkable woman," says Paul Berg, director of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center. "Had we been wise, we would have cloned her so we could use her today."
In addition to convincing U.S. government leaders to step up the budget for medical research, Lasker did her own part to fund this work. She and her husband, the late Albert D. Lasker, owner of the Lord & Thomas advertising agency, created the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation in 1942 and established the Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards, first given in 1944. The Lasker Awards have become known as the United States' premier scientific prizes; 51 recipients have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.
At press time, it was expected that the awards would continue after Lasker's death, although plans for the future of the program had ...
