"It's going to be hard work whether you think it's fun or not, so you might as well have fun while you're doing the hard work.” - Carol Greider, PhD, 2009 Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine

Her application package was a bit unusual, Greider says. “I had great research experience, great letters of recommendation, and outstanding grades, but I had poor GREs.” Although she did not know it growing up, Greider suffers from dyslexia, which affected her scores on standardized tests. Only two schools—the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA) and the University of California, Berkeley— offered her an interview...

Carol Greider's family history has some overlaps with others in this blog - including physics in the family (Greider's father is a physics professor). Greider has said an enjoyment of mechanistic thinking drove her to choose biochemistry over other scientific fields. Thanks Tom West for NYT addition info: My parents were scientists. But I wasn't the sort of child who did science fairs. One of the things I was thinking about today is that as a kid I had dyslexia. I had a lot of trouble in school and was put into remedial classes. I thought that I was stupid. - Dr. Carol Greider http:www.nytimes.com20091013science13conv.html http:www.monstersandcritics.comnewseuropenewsarticle_1505213.phpPROFILE-Carol-Greider-wins-Nobel-Medicine-Prize-despite-dyslexia http:www.pnas.orgcontent102238077.full