President Obama awarded Rowley the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her discoveries in cancer genetics.
On August 12, 2009, Janet Rowley received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, presented to her by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony.
Rowley was recognized for her discovery of recurring chromosomal abnormalities in leukemias and lymphomas, work that revolutionized both the scientific understanding of cancer and its clinical treatment. Her identification of the Philadelphia chromosome translocation and subsequent related discoveries had established that cancer arose from specific, identifiable genetic changes, a concept that transformed oncology from a largely descriptive discipline into one grounded in molecular biology.
The ceremony honored a group of distinguished Americans across various fields, and Rowley's inclusion highlighted the profound real-world impact of her basic science research—work that had directly led to the development of targeted cancer therapies like imatinib, which transformed chronic myelogenous leukemia from a fatal disease into a manageable one.
At age 84, Rowley continued to be an active researcher at the University of Chicago even as she received this pinnacle of national recognition, a testament to her enduring commitment to science over a career spanning more than five decades.