Seven alumni of the University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, including two from the Department of Biochemistry, will be celebrated in April at the college’s 2025 alumni awards celebration.
Congratulations to Michelle Craig Barton and Keith Westcott!
Michelle Craig Barton (BS '78, PhD '89, biochemistry) has been awarded the LAS Alumni Achievement Award. Barton is a world-renowned cancer researcher and educator. Since 2020, she has been the co-director of the Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University after 20 years as a faculty member at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. There she established a robust research program in cancer epigenetics and gene regulation and served as dean of the graduate school for eight years. Through her research, she discovered a protein that plays a role in promoting cancer, particularly breast cancer. Her work has offered new insights into how tumors develop, all with the long-term goal of developing effective, epigenetic-based therapeutics. Barton remains connected to campus as an external committee member of the Cancer Center at Illinois.
Keith R. Westcott (MS '78, PhD '80, biochemistry) is a recipient of the LAS Dean’s Quadrangle Award. Westcott spent most of his career as a research scientist at the biotech company Amgen, which was a small California start-up when he joined in 1986. The biotechnology revolution had begun, and Keith’s work focused on protein science research supporting Amgen’s programs in wound healing, blood cell development, cancer, and neuroscience. Keith also conducted extensive research on epidermal growth factor, which aimed to improve healing for burn victims receiving skin grafts. Throughout his career and especially upon his retirement from Amgen in 1999, Keith remained highly appreciative of the role the university played in shaping his career. Realizing an opportunity to give back to Illinois, its faculty and students, Keith serves the department of biochemistry as a visiting professor, has established significant fellowships and travel awards for graduate students in biochemistry and the biosciences, and has been an active member of the University of Illinois Foundation.
The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology is proud to celebrate our esteemed alumni and the entire class of 2025 LAS Alumni Award winners.