2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Sacramento native Charles M. Rice

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and British scientist Michael Houghton for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.

Charles M. Rice was born in Sacramento. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of California Davis in 1974 and earned his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology in 1981, according to his biography on The Rockefeller University website, where Rice is currently a professor.

The prestigious Nobel Prize comes with a gold medal and prize money of over $1.1 million courtesy of a bequest left by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.

The medicine prize carries particular significance this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has highlighted the importance that medical research has for societies and economies around the world.

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The other prizes are physics, chemists, literature, peace and economics.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.