Richard Pestell

Richard G. Pestell
Born	Perth, Western Australia
Citizenship	United States, Australia
Alma mater	Massachusetts General Hospital (Postdoctoral Clinical and Research Fellow in Medicine) Harvard Medical School (Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Medicine) University of Melbourne (M.D., Ph.D.) University of Western Australia (M.B.B.S.)
Awards	Biotechnology Award, Advance Global Australian Awards (2014) Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2011) RD Wright Medallion, University of Melbourne (2010) Susan G. Komen for the Cure “Light of Life” Award (2010) Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Western Australia (2008) Elected Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine (2007) Francis L. and Charlotte Gragnani Endowed Chair (2002-2005)
Scientific career
Fields	Oncology, Endocrinology
Institutions	Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University (Current) Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center Albert Einstein Cancer Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Richard G. Pestell is an oncologist and endocrinologist who currently serves as an Executive Vice President at Thomas Jefferson University, Director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Chairman of the Department of Cancer Biology, and Associate Dean of Cancer Programs at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Education and early career

A native of Perth, Western Australia, Pestell received his M.B.B.S. in 1981 from the University of Western Australia, and his M.D. and Ph.D. in 1991 and 1997, respectively, from the University of Melbourne. He was a postdoctoral clinical and research fellow in medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a postdoctoral research fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School, respectively, from 1991 to 1993.

Following his postdoctoral research, Pestell was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois from 1993 to 1996. In 1996, he become an associate professor, and later professor, in the Department of Medicine and Developmental and Molecular Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, New York. Pestell would later serve as Chair of the Division of Endocrine-Dependent Tumor Biology at the Albert Einstein Cancer Center from 2000 to 2002.

In 2002, Dr. Pestell was named Director of the Lombardi Cancer Center at the Georgetown University Medical Center. During this tenure, he also served as Associate Vice President of the Georgetown University Medical Center, and the Francis L. and Charlotte Gragnani Chair of the Department of Oncology at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. While serving as Director of the Lombardi Cancer Center, Pestell led the successful effort for renewal of its National Cancer Institute designation, and founded the Capital Breast Care Center with Andrea Jung of the Avon Foundation. In 2005, he was named President of the USA branch of the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research, and held that position until 2010. Pestell additionally served as the founding Director for the Delaware Valley Institute for Clinical and Translational Science from 2008 to 2010.

Dr. Pestell with First Lady Laura Bush, Andrea Jung, and Kathleen Walas of Avon Products, Inc.

Accomplishments

Pestell's research has included contributions to understanding cell cycle regulation and the aberrations that can lead to cells turning cancerous.

One of Pestell's most significant achievements was to show that show that nuclear receptors (estrogen and androgen) are acetylated, and that this event is rate-limiting in hormone signaling and growth control- thus a new target for cancer therapy. His laboratory demonstrated that this was a general mechanism conserved among nuclear receptors that affect diverse biological processes.

In the cell cycle field, his research has shown: the discovery that cyclins are direct transcriptional targets of oncogenic and tumor suppressor signals. That cyclin expression is rate-limiting for oncogene-induced breast tumor growth in vivo and that cyclin D1 regulates diverse function including cellular migration, mitochondrial metabolism, angiogenesis, and nuclear receptor function in vivo.

Another major accomplishment in breast cancer stem cell research was to define key target genes required for breast cancer stem cell expansion in vivo including p21Cip1, c-Jun, the canonical NF-κB pathway, and the cell fate determination pathway protein DACH1.

Pestell is the author of 375 original publications and has collaborated on another 175 publications. He sits on the editorial boards of a number of journals. His work is cited, with more than 42,600 citations.

Select publications

• Fan, S., Wang, J., Yuan, R., Ma, Y., Meng, Q., Erdos, M.R., Pestell, R.G., Yuan, F., Auborn, K.J., Goldberg, I.D., and Rosen, E.M., BRCA1 inhibition of estrogen receptor signaling in transfected cells. Science. 1999 May 21; 284(5418): p. 1354-6.

• Bromberg, J.F., Wrzeszczynska, M.H., Devgan, G., Zhao, Y., Pestell, R.G., Albanese, C., and Darnell, J.E., Jr., Stat3 as an oncogene. Cell. 1999 Aug 6; 98(3): p. 295-303.

• Tazebay, U.H., Wapnir, I.L., Levy, O., Dohan, O., Zuckier, L.S., Zhao, Q.H., Deng, H.F., Amenta, P.S., Fineberg, S., Pestell, R.G., and Carrasco, N., The mammary gland iodide transporter is expressed during lactation and in breast cancer. Nat Med. 2000 Aug; 6(8): p. 871-8.

• Tanaka, H., Matsumura, I., Ezoe, S., Satoh, Y., Sakamaki, T., Albanese, C., Machii, T., Pestell, R.G., and Kanakura, Y., E2F1 and c-Myc potentiate apoptosis through inhibition of NF-κB activity that facilitates MnSOD-mediated ROS elimination. Mol Cell. 2002 May; 9(5): p. 1017-29.

• Huang, E., Ishida, S., Pittman, J., Dressman, H., Bild, A., Kloos, M., D'Amico, M., Pestell, R.G., West, M., and Nevins, J.R., Gene expression phenotypic models that predict the activity of oncogenic pathways. Nat Genet. 2003 Jun; 34(2): p. 226-30.

• Genander, M., Halford, M.M., Xu, N.J., Eriksson, M., Yu, Z., Qiu, Z., Martling, A., Greicius, G., Thakar, S., Catchpole, T., Chumley, M.J., Zdunek, S., Wang, C., Holm, T., Goff, S.P., Pettersson, S., Pestell, R.G., Henkemeyer, M., and Frisen, J., Dissociation of EphB2 signaling pathways mediating progenitor cell proliferation and tumor suppression. Cell. 2009 Nov 13; 139(4): p. 679-92.

Awards and recognitions

2015	The Eric Susman Prize, Awarded by The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
2014	Biotechnology Award, 2014 Advance Global Australian Awards
2011	Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
2010	RD Wright Medallion, University of Melbourne
2010	Susan G. Komen for the Cure “Light of Life” Award
2010	Raine Distinguished Professor
2010	Elected Council Member, Interurban Clinical Club
2009	Elected Fellow, College of Physicians of Philadelphia
2009	Elected Honorary Fellow, American College of Physicians
2008	Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Western Australia
2007	Elected Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine
2005	Australia Endocrine Society, Keith Harrison Award
2002 - 2005	Francis L. and Charlotte Gragnani Endowed Chair
2002	Diane Belfer Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research
2000	Elected Member, American Society for Clinical Investigation
1998 - 2002	Irma T. Hirschl Weil Caulier Career Scientist Award
1991 - 1994	Neil Hamilton Fairley Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Health and Medical Research Council
1990	Winthrop Fellowship, Royal Australian College of Physicians

External links

• Interview with Dr. Richard Pestell