Janet D. Rowley's research on chromosome abnormalities in a type of leukemia have introduced new diagnostic tools for oncologists--doctors specializing in cancer--and have also opened new avenues of inquiry into possible gene therapies for cancer. A specialist in cytogenetics (the investigation of the role of cells in evolution and heredity), Rowley has helped to pinpoint cancer gene locations and correlate them to chromosome aberrations.

Janet Rowley was born in New York City, the daughter of Hurford Henry and Ethel Mary (Ballantyne) Davison. She attended the University of Chicago where she earned a B.S. degree in 1946 and her M.D. in 1948. During the latter year she married Donald A. Rowley. The couple eventually had four sons. Rowley's professional career took her from a research assistant job at the University of Chicago in 1949 and 1950 to an internship at Marine Hospital in Chicago, a residency at Cook County Hospital, and...