Every year, the Genetics Society of America bestows the Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education, recognizing someone who has helped the public better understand the science of DNA. It’s understood to be a lifetime achievement award; past recipients tend toward retirement age with decades of work behind them and stacks of textbooks to their names. 

When this year’s winner, Brian Donovan, was announced at the end of February, many geneticists and science educators found it hard to celebrate the news. Not because he’s undeserving of the honor. Far from it. But because it seemed to confirm what many feared: that Donovan’s incandescent research career was over before it had barely begun. 

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