Director, Sloan Kettering Institute, NY
Motivation:
The Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award was established in 1997 to recognize a scientist who has made a major scientific discovery in basic cancer research, or who has made significant contributions to translational cancer research; who continues to be active in cancer research, and has a record of recent and noteworthy publications; and whose ongoing work holds promise for continued substantive contributions to progress in the field of cancer.
The 2016 Pezcoller Foundation-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.
Dr. Massagué is recognized for his seminal discoveries in TGF-β biology, now considered fundamental to our understanding of cellular physiology. His pioneering efforts were the first to delineate the TGF-β signaling pathway and its mechanism of action from receptor activation to the regulation of key target genes. Furthermore, Dr. Massagué’s studies demonstrated how TGF-β can be both a growth suppressor and promoter of metastasis. Dr. Massagué’s stellar work has illuminated vital aspects of developmental biology, tissue homeostasis, and cancer metastasis.
Dr. Massagué has been recognized with numerous 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, and 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 in Providence, Rhode Island. Before joining the faculty at Memorial Sloan Kettering in 1989, he was an associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
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 Cancer Discovery.
