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President Barack Obama announced in December that the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation will be awarded to 17 eminent scientists and inventors. The awards are the nation's highest honors for achievement and leadership in advancing science and technology. Three of the recipients have made significant contributions to cancer research:

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, and Mary-Claire King, PhD, will receive the National Medal of Science.

Jain is a professor of tumor biology at Harvard Medical School and director of the E.L. Steele Laboratory of Tumor Biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, both in Boston, MA. He has developed mathematical models, genetically engineered mice, and imaging technologies to provide insights into how cancers evade treatment, and is known for his studies of abnormal vasculature and angiogenesis inhibitors.

King is a professor of genetics and medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is best known for discovering the BRCA1 gene locus and demonstrating familial susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancers. She also developed DNA-based analysis to reunite kidnapped and missing children with their families and identify victims of natural disasters and military conflicts.

Jonathan Rothberg, PhD, will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. He made his mark in genomic sequencing and brought the first next-generation sequencers to market. He has founded several companies in the field, including CuraGen, Ion Torrent, and 4Catalyzer. He also played a major part in sequencing the first human genome.