On May 19, 2016, President Barack Obama presented Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., a University of Washington professor of medicine (medical genetics) and genome sciences, the National Medal of Science at the White House.

Dr. King received the award ‘For pioneering contributions to human genetics, including discovery of the BRCA1 susceptibility gene for breast cancer; and for development of genetic methods to match “disappeared” victims of human rights abuses with their families. Dr. King is a world leader in cancer genetics and in the application of genetics to resolution of human rights abuses.