Whitehead Institute receives "History Makers Award"

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research will receive the 2004 History Makers Award, presented by the Boston History Collaborative “for pioneering discoveries in biomedical research, including spearheading the Human Genome Project.” The award will be presented November 16 at a celebratory dinner at the Seaport Boston Hotel. Other award recipients for 2004 are Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital for advancing modern medical care with the invention of the Heart Pacemaker, and the Big Dig for innovations in city planning.

The Boston History Collaborative is a Boston-based, not-for-profit alliance of senior historians, neighborhood and civic leaders, and representatives from the tourism industry, business community, and local government, designed to promote the vitality of Boston as a hub of innovation. The Collaborative pursues this mission through projects including books, tours, and dramatic performances.

“It’s a unique award that has people coming down to eat a piece of it.”

To choose award recipients, the Collaborative polled nearly 1,000 Boston-area business, academic, and research leaders. The fact that so many chose Whitehead is “an indication about how strongly people in leadership positions in Boston feel that Whitehead’s research is something that affects the nation and the world,” says Robert Krim, the Collaborative’s Executive Director.

For the ceremony, the Collaborative is preparing a dramatic presentation that portrays the work of Whitehead Member David Page. Last year Page published a ground-breaking paper that challenged the long-held assumption that the Y chromosome—which determines that a child is born male—was destined to extinction. Krim notes that, for the ceremony, his group is working with the chefs at the Seaport Hotel to prepare desserts that reflect Page’s work on the Y chromosome.

“It’s a unique award that has people coming down to eat a piece of it,” notes Krim.

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