Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, Ph.D., was born in New York City on February 21, 1925. Her parents were Russian immigrants, Leonard Jaikovsky and Rose Schurman. The family lived in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island before settling in South Ozone Park, Queens. Rosalyn graduated from South Ozone Park High School in 1941
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She attended Hunter College on a scholarship for academic achievement and met her husband, Joseph Yalow, who was also attending Hunter College. They married in 1946 and have three children: David, Susan, and Sandra. Dr.
Yalow received her Ph.D. from New York University in 1951 after working for eight years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She joined the Columbia University Medical School faculty as an assistant professor of biochemistry.
In 1965 she became an associate professor of biochemistry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) and remained at Columbia University until she retired in 1989 as professor emeritus. Dr. Yalow is currently professor emerita at both Columbia University's School of Public Health and the Baylor College of Medicine's Department of Biomedical Chemistry and Biophysics where she teaches graduate students about metabolism and molecular biology.
She is considered one of the founders of molecular biology research at Columbia University/CPS/Baylor College of Medicine (CU-CMB). She has received numerous awards including the NIH Director's Award for Distinguished Service; the MRS Award; the American Heart Association's Award for Outstanding Clinical Research; The National Medal for Science; The American Society for Clinical Investigation's Scientist Award; The John Dannelly Award for Excellence in Teaching; The American Association of University Professors' William Paley Award for outstanding contribution to academic life; The Gold Medal from the American Institute of Chemists; The Dean's Distinguished Faculty Award from Columbia University School of Public Health; The Howard Hochberg Personal Achievement Award from the New York Academy of Sciences; The William Caffey Memorial Award from the American Chemical Society; Urea production has been named after her by many chemical engineers worldwide as "The Rosalyn Effect."
