Elaine Fuchs is renowned for her research in skin biology, its stem cells and associated genetic disorders. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from Princeton. After postdoctoral research at MIT, she joined the faculty at University of Chicago. In 2002, she relocated to Rockefeller University, and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She holds the USA National Medal of Science, L’Oreal-UNESCO Award, March of Dimes Prize, EB Wilson Award, Vanderbilt Prize for mentoring women scientists, McEwen Award for Stem Cell Research and honorary doctorate from Harvard University. Fuchs is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, European Molecular Biology Organization and Pontifical Academy of Sciences. She is past-President of American Society for Cell Biology and International Society for Stem Cell Research. She’s published over 350 articles and trained 30 PhDs and 100 postdocs. Focusing on mammalian skin, Fuchs investigates how stem cells make and repair tissues, and survive wounds, inflammation and cancer-causing genetic mutations. Her science has particular relevance for how stem cells evade cancer therapies, causing relapse of some of the most life-threatening cancers world-wide.