On Oct. 6, 2025, Portland-raised Mary Brunkow was announced as one of the recipients for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The award was also granted to Fred Ramsdell from San Francisco, California, and Shimon Sakaguchi from Osaka, Japan. 

The history of the Nobel Prize dates back to Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, inventor and industrialist who is commonly recognized for his invention of dynamite. With his fortune, Nobel established the Nobel Prize awards as written in his will. The first prizes were awarded four years after his death in 1901. The Nobel Prize categories include peace, literature, physics, physiology or medicine, chemistry and economic sciences. 

This year, Brunkow, along with Ramsdell and Sakaguchi, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their groundbreaking discoveries involving peripheral immune tolerance—  a system in charge of preventing the immune system from harming the body. 

Brunkow was born in 1961 in Portland, Oregon, and attended St. Mary’s Academy where she graduated in 1979. After high school, she attended the University of Washington where she received her Bachelor of Science with a major in molecular and cellular biology. After graduating in 1983, she attended Princeton University where she received her Doctor of Philosophy in molecular biology.  

Brunkow currently resides in Seattle, Washington, where she is a senior program manager for the Institute for Systems Biology. Previously, she worked at Celltech R&D in Bothell, Washington, where she, along with Ramsdell, performed their Nobel Prize-winning work in peripheral immune tolerance.

The Nobel Prizes are awarded annually to recognize outstanding individuals across a variety of fields. Brunkow stands as an inspiration for our community, especially local individuals with aspirations to pursue a career in the scientific or medical field.