Profile

Ronald DePinho is currently Professor and former President of the MD Anderson Cancer Center. His career has included faculty positions at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Harvard Medical School, where he was the founding director of the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science. He served as the fourth full-time president of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. MD Anderson is the world’s leading institution for the study, treatment, and prevention of cancer-related diseases, and under his leadership, it launched its flagship cancer initiative, which inspired President Biden’s national cancer moonshot and expanded MD Anderson’s global network to now reach one-third of the world’s population.

Dr. DePinho is internationally recognized for his research on cancer, aging, and degenerative diseases. He was the first to demonstrate that aging is reversible. He has received numerous honors and awards, including election to the National Academies of Sciences and Medicine, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for Cancer Research, and designation as a Research Professor of the American Cancer Society. He has also received honorary degrees and other forms of recognition.

In 2015, he was awarded the Commander of the Ordem de Sant’Iago da Espada by the President of Portugal, Aníbal Cavaco Silva. Dr. DePinho is the founder and advisor to several public and private biotechnology companies. He also founded nonprofit organizations, including Opa Health and Act for NIH, and advises the Vatican and various governments on matters of science and health.

Ronald DePinho has been a member of the Portuguese Diaspora since 2013.