Joan Massagué, PhD

Director @MSKCC - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre

New York, United States of America

Joan Massagué, PhD is Director of the Sloan Kettering Institute at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre.  He received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Barcelona. He served as Chairman of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program and Cell Biology Program at SKI, and HHMI Investigator until he assumed his current position in 2014. 

Dr. Massagué works on the genetic and molecular basis for normal cell behaviour and cancer metastasis. He identified the TGF-β receptors and signal transduction pathway, and defined how this pathway regulates embryonic development, tissue regeneration, and immune regulation, and how its malfunctions cause congenital disorders, fibrosis, and cancer.

Building on this work, Dr. Massagué dissected the mechanisms that drive metastasis to illuminate the main cause of cancer mortality, opening avenues for new treatments. Dr. Massagué is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, European Molecular Biology Organization, and the Spanish Royal Academies of Medicine and of Pharmacy. He received the Prince of Asturias Prize, BBVA Frontiers Prize, Vilcek Prize, Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize, and Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award, among other honors.

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