Gregg Semenza receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Dear Faculty, Students, and Staff,

There are some messages we never get tired of sending, even before the sun comes up. This is one: Congratulations to Johns Hopkins’ newest Nobel laureate!

The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute announced just a few minutes ago that Gregg Semenza of the School of Medicine is a co-winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

This is the third time in 10 years that a current member of the Johns Hopkins faculty has been awarded a Nobel. That is simply breathtaking!

Not nearly as breathtaking, however, as what Gregg has added to our knowledge of the molecular processes that underpin a range of human diseases.

The Nobel jury recognized him for his groundbreaking discovery of a protein called hypoxia-inducible factor 1, or HIF-1. HIF-1 helps cells cope with low oxygen levels, a key factor in health conditions such as coronary artery disease, chronic lung disease and cancer. Gregg has led the field in uncovering how cells adapt to changing oxygen levels, and has found that HIF-1 controls genes involved in response to low oxygen levels.

Today’s award brings him richly deserved acclaim. At the same time, it’s a recognition of the curiosity, creativity and excellence that everyone at Johns Hopkins brings to their work to illuminate the truth and share the benefits of knowledge with humanity.

Gregg shares the Nobel Prize with William Kaelin Jr. of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Peter Ratcliffe of Oxford University.

Congratulations to Gregg. All of us here — students, faculty and staff — are honored to call him a colleague. We are proud of him and the 27 other women and men associated with Johns Hopkins who have become Nobel laureates over the past hundred years.

We invite you to join us for a press conference today at noon in Turner Auditorium on the school of medicine campus to celebrate Gregg’s win. You can also view the press conference live on Twitter’s Periscope by following @HopkinsMedicine and @HopkinsMedNews.

More information about today’s Nobel Prize will be available on the university’s home page at jhu.edu and the school of medicine’s Newsroom at hopkinsmedicine.org/newsroom.

Sincerely,

Ronald J. Daniels
President
The Johns Hopkins University

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine