Beverly M. Emerson

Beverly M. Emerson (born January 18, 1952) is an emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies who uncovered details about how cancer becomes drug resistant. She is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Early life and education Emerson was born in Eugene, Oregon. Her parents divorced when she was young and her mother became a traveller. Her father was an amateur boxer and her mother was a gambler. Emerson attended the La Châtelainie School for Girls in Neuchâtel for a year. She studied biology at the University of California, San Diego. To support her studies, she worked as a carhop at Shoney's and a waitress at a steakhouse. She joined Washington University in St. Louis for her graduate studies, earning a PhD in molecular biology in 1981 under the supervision of Robert G. Roeder.

Research and career Emerson joined the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 1986. She joined at the same time as Katherine Jones. Emerson was promoted to professor in 1999.

Emerson's lab considered how genes are turned on and off throughout the course of cancer. The study of how tumour suppressant genes are silenced during cancer has been the pursuit of many scientists. Emerson identified a novel regulator of gene expression in cancer. She identified the functions of the tumour suppressing protein p53, which is mutated in the majority of human cancers and impairs cell cycle arrest apoptosis. Emerson investigated p53 using biochemical and cell-based analyses. She went on to study how stress response in breast tissue can promote early cancer formation. She has studied the Beta globin gene family, and found it is activated by EKLF, a zinc finger containing transcription factor.

In 2017 Emerson filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the Salk Institute. She led a report that assessed the culture of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, finding that women were less likely to be hired and received the smallest labs, despite raising more National Institutes of Health funding. He was put on administrative leave and subsequently resigned before the board of trustees took action in June 2018. Emerson's case went to trial and was settled in November 2018. Emerson spent over thirty years at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.