In 1995, Mary-Claire King, an internationally known human geneticist, was recruited to the University of Washington’s (UW) School of Medicine. Today, She is professor of Genome Sciences and of Medicine at the UW where she uses next generation sequencing approaches to identify genes responsible for complex human conditions.

Some of Dr. King’s noteworthy achievements include: identifying the BRCA1 gene responsible for inherited susceptibility to breast cancer; demonstrating that the genomes of humans and chimpanzees are 99% genetically identical; and pioneering the application of genomic sequencing methods in forensics to identify victims of human rights abuse.