Ronald DePinho

Ronald A. DePinho (born 1955) was the fourth president of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and is internationally recognized for basic and translational research in cancer, aging and age-associated degenerative disorders. He was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2012.

Ronald A. DePinho
Born1955 (age 65–66)
Alma mater
Spouse(s)Lynda Chin
Children3
Scientific career
Institutions

DePinho assumed the presidency at MD Anderson on Sept. 1, 2011.[1] He was only the fourth full-time president in the 70-year history of MD Anderson.[2] He announced his resignation on March 8, 2017, after scrutiny over the administration of the organization had put him in the spotlight, and remained through the end of the 85th Texas Legislative Session.[3][4]

Prior to joining MD Anderson, he spent 14 years at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston. There, he was founding director of the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science at Dana-Farber and was a professor in the Department of Medicine (genetics) at Harvard and an American Cancer Society Research Professor. Previously, he held numerous faculty positions during 10 years at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. DePinho is married to noted cancer geneticist, Lynda Chin and has three children, Alexis, Carolyn, and Joseph DePinho.

Research

Ronald DePinho is best known for his work on telomerase and telomere disfunction as it relates to cancer and aging. Specifically, in collaboration with Carol Greider, he generated the first telomerase knockout mouse. This work led to a deeper understanding of telomerase and telomere dysfunction in cancer, aging and a range of degenerative diseases, including fibrosis.

At Dana-Farber and Harvard, DePinho guided major basic-translational research programs focused on brain, colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers. Under his leadership, the Belfer Institute followed industry-like principles to systematically translate basic research findings into clinical endpoints.

His scientific program has made fundamental discoveries underlying cancer in the aged and factors governing acquired and inherited degenerative disorders. He established the concept of tumor maintenance, discovered a core pathway of aging and demonstrated that aging is a reversible process.[5] He has constructed and used refined mouse models of cancer to identify many new cancer targets and diagnostics. Highlights from his work in mouse models of cancer includes the generation of CDKN2A knockout mice, providing proof of the tumor suppressor function of this gene, now known to be critical in diverse cancers, most prominently GBM and mesothelioma. He is notable for his work on telomerase knockout mice, and the associated mechanistic studies related to aging and carcinogenesis. Recent work of DePinho has focused on precision oncology, with an emphasis on utilizing genomic deletions as points of selective vulnerabilities.

Background

DePinho was born in the Bronx, NY in 1955 to Celeste and Alvaro DePinho. He is the third of five children. He earned a bachelor's degree in biological sciences in 1977 from Fordham University, where he graduated summa cum laude as class salutatorian. He received his medical degree with distinction in microbiology and immunology in 1981 from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, followed by postdoctoral fellowships in the Department of Cell Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

DePinho's independent scientific career began at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he was the Feinberg Senior Scholar in Cancer Research. There, he established the first National Cancer Institute-supported shared transgenic and gene targeting facility, which enabled his laboratory and many other researchers to model and study the genetic basis of cancer and other complex diseases.

Honors

Awards

Select publications
  • "Epigenetic Activation of WNT5A Drives Glioblastoma Stem Cell Differentiation and Invasive Growth". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Viale, Andrea; Pettazzoni, Piergiorgio; Lyssiotis, Costas A.; Ying, Haoqiang; Sánchez, Nora; Marchesini, Matteo; Carugo, Alessandro; Green, Tessa; Seth, Sahil; Giuliani, Virginia; Kost-Alimova, Maria; Muller, Florian; Colla, Simona (2014). "Oncogene ablation-resistant pancreatic cancer cells depend on mitochondrial function". Nature. 514 (7524): 628–632. Bibcode:2014Natur.514..628V. doi:10.1038/nature13611. PMC 4376130. PMID 25119024.
  • Son, Jaekyoung; Lyssiotis, Costas A.; Ying, Haoqiang; Wang, Xiaoxu; Hua, Sujun; Ligorio, Matteo; Perera, Rushika M.; Ferrone, Cristina R.; Mullarky, Edouard; Shyh-Chang, Ng; Kang, Ya'an; Fleming, Jason B.; Bardeesy, Nabeel; Asara, John M.; Haigis, Marcia C.; Depinho, Ronald A.; Cantley, Lewis C.; Kimmelman, Alec C. (2013). "Glutamine supports pancreatic cancer growth through a KRAS-regulated metabolic pathway". Nature. 496 (7443): 101–105. Bibcode:2013Natur.496..101S. doi:10.1038/nature12040. PMC 3656466. PMID 23535601.
  • Ying, Haoqiang; Kimmelman, Alec C.; Lyssiotis, Costas A.; Hua, Sujun; Chu, Gerald C.; Fletcher-Sananikone, Eliot; Locasale, Jason W.; Son, Jaekyoung; Zhang, Hailei; Coloff, Jonathan L.; Yan, Haiyan; Wang, Wei; Chen, Shujuan; Viale, Andrea; Zheng, Hongwu; Paik, Ji-hye; Lim, Carol; Guimaraes, Alexander R.; Martin, Eric S.; Chang, Jeffery; Hezel, Aram F.; Perry, Samuel R.; Hu, Jian; Gan, Boyi; Xiao, Yonghong; Asara, John M.; Weissleder, Ralph; Wang, Y. Alan; Chin, Lynda; et al. (2012). "Oncogenic Kras maintains pancreatic tumors through regulation of anabolic glucose metabolism". Cell. 149 (3): 656–670. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.01.058. PMC 3472002. PMID 22541435.
  • Paik, JH; Ding, Z; Narurkar, R; Ramkissoon, S; Muller, F; Kamoun, WS; Chae, SS; Zheng, H; Ying, H; Mahoney, J; Hiller, D; Jiang, S; Protopopov, A; Wong, WH; Chin, L; Ligon, KL; DePinho, RA (Nov 2009). "FoxOs cooperatively regulate diverse pathways governing neural stem cell homeostasis". Cell Stem Cell. 5 (5): 540–53. doi:10.1016/j.stem.2009.09.013. PMC 3285492. PMID 19896444.
  • Zheng, Hongwu; Ying, Haoqiang; Yan, Haiyan; Kimmelman, Alec C.; Hiller, David J.; Chen, An-Jou; Perry, Samuel R.; Tonon, Giovanni; Chu, Gerald C.; Ding, Zhihu; Stommel, Jayne M.; Dunn, Katherine L.; Wiedemeyer, Ruprecht; You, Mingjian J.; Brennan, Cameron; Wang, Y. Alan; Ligon, Keith L.; Wong, Wing H.; Chin, Lynda; Depinho, Ronald A. (2008). "p53 and Pten control neural and glioma stem/progenitor cell renewal and differentiation". Nature. 455 (7216): 1129–1133. Bibcode:2008Natur.455.1129Z. doi:10.1038/nature07443. PMC 4051433. PMID 18948956.
  • Paik, JH; Kollipara, R; Chu, G; Ji, H; Xiao, Y; Ding, Z; Miao, L; Tothova, Z; Horner, JW; Carrasco, DR; et al. (Jan 2007). "FoxOs are lineage-restricted redundant tumor suppressors and regulate endothelial cell homeostatsis". Cell. 128 (2): 309–23. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2006.12.029. PMC 1855089. PMID 17254969.
  • {{cite journal|title=Chromosomally unstable mouse tumours have genomic alterations similar to diverse human cancers|journal=Nature|volume=447|issue=7147|doi=10.1038/nature05886|pmid=17515920|pages=966–971|pmc=2714968|year=2007|last1=Maser|first1=Richard S.|last2=Choudhury|first2=Bhudipa|last3=Campbell|first3=Peter J.|last4=Feng|first4=Bin|last5=Wong|first5=Kwok-Kin|last6=Protopopov|first6=Alexei|last7=o'Neil|first7=Jennifer|last8=Gutierrez|first8=Alejandro|last9=Ivanova|first9=Elena|last10=Perna|first10=Ilana|last11=Lin|first11=Eric|last12=Mani|first12=Vidya|last13=Jiang|first13=Shan|last14=McNamara|first14=Kate|last15=Zaghlul|first15=Sara|last16=Edkins|first16=Sarah|last17=Stevens|first17=Claire|last18=Brennan|first18=Cameron|last19=Martin|first19=Eric

References
  1. "Incoming MD Anderson chief sets challenge for institution". The Houston Chronicle. Retrieved Sep 1, 2011.
  2. "MD Anderson's Past Presidents". The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Retrieved Sep 1, 2011.
  3. https://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/2017/03/-change-in-leadership-at-md-anderson.html
  4. https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/08/md-anderson-depinho-resigns/
  5. "Partial reversal of aging achieved in mice". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved Sep 1, 2011.
  6. "Cidadãos Estrangeiros Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas". Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
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