City of Hope recently announced the appointment of John D. Carpten, PhD, as Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center, Director of Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, and Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Carpten will also hold the Irell & Manella Cancer Center Director’s Distinguished Chair and the Morgan & Helen Chu Director’s Chair of the Beckman Research Institute. Dr. Carpten will provide overall executive leadership and strategic direction for research. He joins City of Hope from the University of Southern California (USC), where he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Translational Genomics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Associate Director of the Cancer Center.
John D. Carpten, PhD
Dr. Carpten is an internationally recognized expert in genome science, with training in multiple disciplines, including germline genetics for disease risk and predisposition, somatic cancer genomics, health disparities research, cell biology, functional genomics, and precision medicine. Prior to his work at USC, he served as Director of the Division of Integrated Cancer Genomics and later Deputy Director of Basic Research at Translational Genomics Research Institute, now part of City of Hope. Earlier in his career, Dr. Carpten completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Human Genome Research Institute in cancer genetics, where he was later promoted to the tenure track in 2000. Dr. Carpten earned his PhD from The Ohio State University in 1994, with a focus on human genetics.
An Advocate for the Underserved
Nationally recognized as a leader in health disparities research, Dr. Carpten has been a pioneer in the understanding of the role biology plays in disparate cancer incidence and mortality rates experienced by underrepresented populations. As such, his work has impacted the understanding of a variety of cancer types, particularly those that disproportionately affect underrepresented minorities, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, multiple myeloma, and pediatric cancers.
In addition, Dr. Carpten has played a significant role in the national cancer research agenda. He has served as a member of the NCI Board of Scientific Counselors. In 2019, he served as Program Committee Chair for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Scientific Conference in Atlanta, which included more than 21,500 international participants. In 2021, he was inducted into the AACR Fellows of the Academy. In 2022, President Biden appointed Dr. Carpten as the first Black Chair of the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Advisory Board.
