Jennifer Anne Doudna was born in Washington, D.C., on February 19, 1964.
Jennifer Anne Doudna was born on February 19, 1964, in Washington, D.C. She spent most of her childhood in Hilo, Hawaii, where her father, a professor of American literature, moved the family when Jennifer was seven years old.
Growing up on the Big Island exposed her to a rich natural environment that sparked an early curiosity about the biological world, and a gift from her father — a copy of James Watson's The Double Helix — helped inspire a lifelong fascination with molecular biology and the structure of DNA. As one of very few girls in Hawaii pursuing advanced science coursework, Doudna faced skepticism from teachers and peers who did not expect a girl to become a scientist.
Her upbringing in a relatively remote, multicultural community, combined with strong parental encouragement of intellectual pursuits, shaped her resilience and independence — traits that would prove essential decades later as she navigated the highly competitive and high-stakes world of biomedical research and pioneered one of the most transformative technologies in modern science: CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing.
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