Six Women Scholars in the Inaugural Class of Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors

The National Academy of Inventors has announced its inaugural class of 98 Charter Fellows. The inventors represent 54 research universities and nonprofit research organizations. All told the 98 inventors hold more than 3,200 U.S. patents. Eight of the charter fellows have won the Nobel Prize. The Charter Fellows will be formally inducted at the annual conference of the National Academy of Inventors in Tampa, Florida, in February.

Among the 98 Charter Fellows are six women who currently hold faculty posts at U.S. universities.

(L to R) Geraldine G. Botte, Sandra J.F. Degen, Barbara A. Gilchrest,
Barbara C. Hansen, Virginia M.Y. Lee, and Esther Takeuchi

Geraldine G. Botte is the Russ Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio University in Athens. She joined the university’s faculty in 2002 after teaching at the University of Minnesota at Duluth. Her research focuses on full cell and battery technology.

Dr. Botte is a graduate of the University of Carabobo in Venezuela. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of South Carolina.

Sandra J.F. Degen is a professor of molecular genetics, biochemistry, and microbiology at the University of Cincinnati. She has been on the faculty at the university since 1995. She holds three patents in the fields of blood coagulation and cancer research.

Dr. Deegan is a graduate of the University of California at San Diego. She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Washington.

Barbara A. Gilchrest is a professor of dermatology at the Boston University School of Medicine. She previously taught at the medical schools at Harvard University and Tufts University. Her research is focused on skin aging and pigmentation.

Dr. Gilchrest earned her medical degree at Harvard University.

Barbara C. Hansen is professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at the College of Medicine of the University of South Florida. She also is the director of Center for Preclinical Research. She conducts research on obesity using a large group of rhesus monkeys.

Dr. Hansen was the valedictorian of her college class at the University of California at Los Angeles. She also holds a master’s degree from UCLA and a Ph.D. in physiology and psychology at the University of Washington.

Virginia M.Y. Lee is the John H. Ware III Professor in Alzheimer’s Research at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the faculty at Penn in 1981 and was promoted to full professor in 1989. Her research focuses on the pathobiology of neurodegenerative diseases.

After studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Professor Lee earned a master’s degree at the University of London and a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of California at San Francisco.

Esther Takeuchi is a Distinguished Professor of chemistry and materials science and engineering at Stony Brook University. She is the inventor of the technology for the power source used in implantable cardiac defibrillators. She holds more than 150 U.S. patents, more than any other woman in the U.S.

Dr. Takeuchi is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in chemistry and history. She holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Ohio State University.