Biography
Steven Lanier McKnight is a professor and former chair of the department of biochemistry at UT Southwestern . His research is in the area of transcriptional regulation , drug discovery, and protein condensates. McKnight received his bachelor's degree from University of Texas in 1974 and his PhD from University of Virginia in 1977. [ 1 ] He was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator from 1988 to 1992. [ 2 ] Steven (Steve) McKnight was born on August 27, 1949, and was raised in El Paso, Texas. His father Frank McKnight and his mother Sara Stevens McKnight had three children, Nancy, Elizabeth, and Steven. In high school, McKnight was an accomplished athlete but an indifferent student. He enrolled in college at UT Austin in the Fall of 1968, but he dropped out one year later. At his father's suggestion, McKnight enlisted in the Army, and in 1970 he was sent to Viet Nam, where he served as a member of a tank crew. [ 3 ] Shortly after McKnight's arrival in Viet Nam, a land mine destroyed their tank in an explosion that McKnight and his fellow crew members barely survived. One of McKnight's more memorable experiences during that time was adopting a dog that became the crew's unofficial mascot.
About the Lasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, founded by advertising pioneer Albert Lasker and his wife Mary Woodard Lasker (a medical research activist). The awards are sometimes referred to as "America's Nobels."
Quick Facts
- Award: Lasker Award - Basic Medical Research
- Added: 2026-02-07
- Source: Wikipedia
- Established: 1946
- Presented by: Lasker Foundation