Ron DePinho is an internationally-known leader and recognized for his groundbreaking discoveries in cancer, aging, and age-associated degenerative disorders. His pioneering work and collaborative initiatives across multiple disciplines has yielded better methods of early cancer detection, improved cancer patient care, and new cancer drugs.
With a medical, clinical and scientific research career spanning decades, Dr. DePinho served with distinction as MD Anderson Cancer Center’s fourth president from 2011-2017. At the nation’s top-ranked hospital for cancer care, he conceived and launched a Cancer Moon Shots Program designed to more rapidly convert knowledge into dramatic reductions in cancer suffering and death. This multi-billion dollar initiative involving nearly 2,000 faculty and staff has yielded many practice-changing advances in a number of cancers and inspired the national moon shot program.
By those who know him well, DePinho is described as an eternal optimist and a passionate, visionary thinker. His inspiration for the ambitious and lofty Moon Shots goal came from America’s drive a generation ago to put a man on the moon. “Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it and cancer patients and their families are counting on us,” DePinho says. “This has become my passion and life’s work to take my diverse background and collaborative insights to make a meaningful difference for as many lives as possible.”