Susan Scholes Wallace

Susan Wallace studied the repair system that removes potentially lethal and mutagenic endogenous and radiation-induced lesions from our DNA. She identified the first oxidative DNA glycosylase, studied novel repair enzymes from many species and the biological consequences of individual lesions. She partnered with collaborators to obtain crystal structures of repair enzymes and of DNA polymerases with DNA lesions, to study repair processing in chromatin, and to visualize in real time, repair enzymes searching for and locating lesions in DNA. Susan was the first woman to be elected President of the Radiation Research Society. She served on editorial boards, government advisory committees, organized international conferences and always worked to promote women. Susan Wallace is a remarkable role model for women in science in essentially every aspect of her multifaceted career.