About the Beach Lectures

David W. Beach was born in 1925 in London, England. Following service in the Royal Navy, he married Doris Holmes and began his career as a Chartered Accountant. Feeling the urge to expand his horizons, he moved to Canada and began a series of jobs in the aluminum industry that included General Manager of Kawneer, Canada and Vice-President of Kawneer, Inc. As Vice-President of ALUMAX Aluminum Corporation he was instrumental in making it one of the largest and most profitable aluminum companies in the world, prior to his retirement. Their son Michael earned his PhD in Biochemistry in 1987. Inspired by their son’s enthusiasm for science, David and Doris chose to share their good fortune by supporting this biochemistry graduate program. This long-term support is intended to promote intellectual curiosity, a commitment to excellence, and an appreciation of science in all those involved.

 Dr. Brenda Bass: Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Unive

Dr. Bass is known for her contributions in defining double-stranded RNA-mediated pathways, including discovery of ADAR RNA editing enzymes, and models and experiments that established Dicer's role in RNA silencing. Dr. Bass obtained a B.A. in chemistry from Colorado College, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Univer-sity of Colorado, Boulder. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center prior to joining the faculty of the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Bass is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2007 she served as President of the RNA Socie-ty. She received research support from the Pew Scholars Program, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, HHMI, and her NIH support includes a Director’s Pioneer Award (2011) and Transformative Re-search Award (2020).