Waterman Wins Gairdner Award for Innovative Genomics Research

University Professor Michael S. Waterman was named a recipient of the 2002 Gairdner International Award last spring. Now in its 43rd year, the annual award is bestowed for outstanding contributions by medical scientists whose work will significantly improve the quality of life. This year’s honorees are all top contributors to the field of genomics research.

Waterman is the USC Associates Professor of Mathematics and Natural Science in USC College, and a professor of mathematics, biological sciences and computer science. He is often called the father of computational biology—which is the modern marriage of computer science, statistics and molecular genetics that is paving the way toward a future era of biomedical wonders, many scientists believe.

“Mike Waterman is richly deserving of the Gairdner Award,” says Joseph Aoun, dean of USC College. “And it is fitting that he shares it with others who, like him, are largely responsible for the dramatic leaps in understanding that have been achieved in the field of genomics.

“He has brought his brilliance into play at USC and made this university a world leader in the drama of genomics that is now unfolding. Mike and his colleagues in computational biology will continue to be heard from, and their contributions will serve well both scholarship and human health.”

Waterman’s mark appears behind many of today’s standard procedures of computational biology, says David Eisenberg, professor of molecular biology and director of the UCLA-Department of Energy Laboratory of Structural Biology and Molecular Medicine. “His work has advanced biological sequence analysis from a collection of ad hoc procedures to a rigorous and mature subject.”