Board of Directors
Steven R. Patierno, PhD
Professor of Pharmacology; Genetics and Urology; Executive Director, GW Cancer Institute
As executive director of the George Washington University Cancer Institute (GWCI), Dr. Patierno oversees a comprehensive urban oncology center of over 70 clinicians and scientists dedicated to cancer research, education, and treatment. Dr. Patierno also serves The George Washington University Medical Center as director of the Molecular and Cellular Oncology Program, and as a professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and School of Public Health and Health Services. He was also the founding director of the GW Molecular and Cellular Oncology PhD Program.
An internationally recognized researcher, Dr. Patierno is a leading expert in cancer causation and carcinogenesis. His research laboratory, which focuses on lung, prostate, breast, and skin cancers, has made major contributions to our understanding of the role of genetic damage in the balance of cell death and survival. In addition, his laboratory has explored the mechanisms of development of cancer cell resistance to chemotherapy and the development of bio-therapeutics that control the metastatic spread of cancer.
Dr. Patierno has authored over 100 scientific journal articles and book chapters. He serves on the editorial boards of a number of scientific journals, has chaired many review panels for the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies, and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of several bio-pharmaceutical companies. He earned his doctoral degree at the Graduate School of Biomedical Science, University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, and was awarded the prestigious Rosalie B. Hite Graduate Fellowship in Cancer Research at the MD Anderson Cancer Institute, where he worked on the genetics of cancer causation.