Joan Massagué, PhD
The 2016 Pezcoller Foundation-American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) International Award for Cancer Research will be presented to Joan Massagué, PhD, Director of the Sloan Kettering Institute and Alfred P. Sloan Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, at the AACR Annual Meeting 2016, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 16–20.
The Pezcoller Foundation–AACR International Award for Cancer Research was established in 1997 to annually recognize a scientist who has made a major scientific discovery in basic cancer research or who has made significant contributions to translational cancer research. The awardee must continue to be active in cancer research and have a record of recent noteworthy publications. In addition, the awardee’s ongoing work must hold promise for continued substantive contributions to progress in the field of cancer.
Pioneering Research
Dr. Massagué, who is also Professor at Weill-Cornell Graduate School of Medicine Sciences, is being recognized for his seminal discoveries in transforming growth factor (TGF)-β biology, now considered fundamental to our understanding of cellular physiology. His efforts delineated the TGF-β signaling pathway and its mechanism of action from receptor activation to the regulation of key target genes. Furthermore, his studies demonstrated how TGF-β can be both a tumor suppressor and promoter of metastasis. Dr. Massagué’s work has illuminated vital aspects of developmental biology, tissue homeostasis, and cancer metastasis.
Dr. Massagué has been an active member of the AACR since 1990. He served on the AACR Board of Directors (2009–2012) and is currently a Scientific Editor of the journal Cancer Discovery.
He has been recognized with myriad honors throughout his career, including the 2009 AACR G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award, the 2008 AACR Distinguished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research, the Pasarow Prize, and the Frontiers Prize in Biomedicine from the BBVA Foundation, and elected membership to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, as well as the Spanish Royal Academies of Medicine and of Pharmacy.
Dr. Massagué received his doctorate from the University of Barcelona in his native Spain and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University. ■
