Dr. Ronald A. DePinho, M.D., is President of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. His research program has focused on the molecular underpinnings of cancer, aging and degenerative disorders and the translation of such knowledge into clinical advances.
Dr. DePinho’s independent scientific career began at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he was the Feinberg Senior Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research. He then joined the Department of Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Department of Medicine and Genetics at the Harvard Medical School. He was the founding Director of the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a Professor of Medicine and Genetics at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. DePinho is a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research, and has served on numerous advisory boards in the public and private sectors, including co-chair of advisory boards for the NCI Mouse Models of Human Cancers Consortium and for The Cancer Genome Atlas Project. Dr. DePinho studied biology at Fordham University, where he graduated class salutatorian, and received his M.D. degree with distinction in microbiology and immunology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
For his fundamental contributions to cancer and aging, he has received numerous honors and awards including the March of Dimes Basil O’Connor Scholar Award, the James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award, the Cancer Research Institute Investigator Award, the Melini Award for Biomedical Excellence, the Irma T. Hirschl Career Scientist Award, the Kirsch Foundation Investigator Award, and the Richard P. and Claire W. Morse Scientific Award. He is the recipient of the 2002 American Society for Clinical Investigation Award, the 2003 AACR G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award, the 2007 Biomedicum Helsinki Medal and the 2009 Albert Szent-Györgyi Prize. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science. In 2010, Dr. DePinho was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2012, he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a founder of a number of biopharmaceutical companies focused on cancer therapies and diagnostics.