About the Rowley Prize 

The Rowley Prize is awarded each year by the iCMLf to an individual who has made an outstanding lifetime contribution to our understanding of the biology and/or to progress in treating CML.

The Rowley Prize was awarded for the first time in 2009 to Dr Brian Druker, followed by Dr Moshe Talpaz (2010), Dr John Goldman (2011), Dr George Q Daley (2012), Dr Connie Eaves (2013) and Dr Owen N Witte (2014).

Dr Janet Rowley kindly gave the iCMLf permission to name this prestigious award in her honour. Prior to her death in 2013, Dr Rowley was the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology and Human 
Genetics at the University of Chicago.

In 1973 she made a seminal discovery in CML when she used newly developed chromosome banding techniques to show that the Philadelphia chromosome is formed by a translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22.

This discovery led to the eventual identification of the fusion gene BCR-ABL and ultimately to the development of targeted inhibitors of this leukemia-specific oncoprotein. This is one of many major contributions made by Dr Rowley and her team to our understanding of the molecular biology of leukemia and other cancers. She was recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour awarded in the USA.