David C. Ward, Ph.D.

David C. Ward, Ph.D., professor of genetics and molecular biophysics and biochemistry, was one of three Yale researchers inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in April. Dr. Ward has developed techniques called fluorescence in situ hybridization, known as FISH, that are widely used to analyze human chromosomes as well as to detect infectious, genetic and cancerous diseases. Among his accomplishments is the complete genetic mapping of chromosome 12, which contains genes implicated in a variety of diseases, including diabetes and several forms of cancer. Dr. Ward received his Ph.D. degree from Rockefeller University in 1969 and was a Leukemia Society of America Fellow 1969-1971 at Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London. He joined the Yale faculty in 1971. The National Academy of Sciences, a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science for the general welfare, was established in 1863.