Physician Scientist Devoted to Reduce Cancer Suffering

Ron’s research has illuminated fundamental mechanisms of cancer, aging, and age-associated degenerative disorders. This research has focused on elucidating genetic and biological mechanisms governing cancer and aging.

Through the inventive use of genetically engineered mouse models, the DePinho laboratory has impacted several aspects of modern cancer drug development. Ron’s team produced several of the first genetically engineered mouse models for melanoma and glioblastoma, and further refined models for pancreas, colon, and prostate cancers. He established the concept of “tumor maintenance,” whereby a driver oncogene remains essential in maintaining a tumor despite the accumulation of many genetic alterations acquired during the malignant transformation process. The tumor maintenance concept has shaped biopharma’s approach in validating cancer targets and in identifying target engagement biomarkers during drug treatment.

His laboratory’s in-depth characterization of these mice served to define the role of telomerase and telomeres in cancer, aging and age-associated diseases. In this area, his most important discovery was establishing that telomeres underlie the intimate link between advancing age and the development of epithelial cancers in humans, and why such cancers sustain complex chromosomal rearrangements, amplifications, and deletions. He created a new paradigm that reactivated telomerase telomere-dysfunctional adult mice with severe tissue degeneration reversed aging and degenerative phenotypes across many organs including the brain.

Ron is deep committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists. Over the course of his career, he has supervised and mentored dozens of trainees, many of whom have assumed leadership positions in academia, industry, and government. His servant leadership is reflected in a lifelong calling to assemble and guide multi-disciplinary teams to address major scientific, medical, and societal needs.