Marilyn Farquhar

Marilyn Gist Farquhar is a pathologist and cellular biologist with a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. She has won the E. B. Wilson Medal and the FASEB Excellence in Science Award. She worked at Yale University from 1973 to 1990. She was married to Nobel Laureate George Emil Palade from 1970 to his death. Currently Farquhar is a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Pathology, as well as the chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Farquhars research focuses on control of intracellular membrane traffic and the molecular pathogenesis of auto immune kidney diseases. She has yielded a number of discoveries in basic biomedical research including mechanisms of kidney disease, organization of functions that attach cells to one another, and mechanisms of secretions.

Marilyn Gist Farquhar was born onJuly 1928 and was raised in the Central Valley farming community of Tulare, California. Her father was from a pioneer family and worked as an insurance agent and farmer, who spent his free time writing novels. Her mother was also from a pioneer family and had begun college, but had to return home before completing her degree. Therefore, Farquhars mother was determined that Farquhar and her sister would receive a college education. As a young girl, Farquhar often accompanied her father on hiking trips to the Sierra Nevada mountains. She remembers these trips instilling a spirit of exploration and innovation in her. However, she attributes her desire to pursue a career in medicine and biology to her mothers friend, Frances Zumwalt, who was a pediatrician.

Source: Wikipedia