Director, Center for Cancer Genomics
Dr. Staudt received his B.A. in Biochemistry from Harvard College in 1976. He was awarded a Medical Scientist Training Program fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in 1982. Following Internal Medicine training, he joined Nobel Laureate David Baltimore's laboratory at the Whitehead Institute as a Jane Coffin Childs Fellow. In 1988, he established his laboratory at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which now focuses on the molecular basis for human lymphoid malignancies and the development of targeted therapies for these cancers.
Dr. Staudt pioneered the use of gene expression profiling to discover molecularly and clinically distinct cancer subtypes and to predict response to therapy. He defined molecular subtypes of lymphoma that were previously unrecognized but are now viewed as distinct diseases that arise from different stages of B-cell differentiation, utilize different oncogenic mechanisms, and offer new therapeutic targets. To develop new treatments for lymphoid malignancies, Dr. Staudt’s laboratory uses various high-throughput approaches, including cancer gene resequencing, RNAi/CRISPR-based genetic screens, and combinatorial small molecule screens. The laboratory also conducts genomic investigations within therapeutic trials of targeted agents in lymphoma to define mechanisms of response and resistance.
Dr. Staudt is currently Co-Chief of the NCI Lymphoid Malignancies Branch and former Director of the NCI Center for Cancer Genomics (CCG) which encompasses several projects including GDC. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the 2009 Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology for outstanding contribution in hematology and election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2013.