Norma J. Nowak, PhD '86
2016 Distinguished Biomedical Alumna
Norma J. Nowak, PhD '86 has received this award for her leadership and extensive research in the field of genomics.
Norma Nowak, PhD '86, is a leader in the field of genomics and executive director for UB’s NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.
Her research contributed directly to the Human Genome Project and microarray-based approaches to understanding heritable disorders and cancer.
She is the author of landmark papers describing the cloning of several heritable cancer disorders, including a form of Ataxia Telangiectasia (Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome). Her work on the Human Genome Project was published in the genome issue of Nature. She led three groups participating in the National Cancer Institutes’ extramural Cancer Chromosome Aberration Project. As part of this project, she developed a microarray-based method for identifying numerical differences in DNA between tumor and normal cells and cells from individuals with genetic disorders. The results were published in Nature Genetics.
Nowak also is founder and chief scientific officer for Empire Genomics, a company that focuses on improving individual patient care through the integration of innovative molecular diagnostic technologies.
She has received more than $4 million in research grants from the National Institutes of Health and various foundations and serves on the editorial board of Cytogenetics and Genome Research.
Nowak holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from Canisius College and master and doctorate degrees from UB.