Dr. Kaelin is the Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. He obtained his undergraduate and MD degrees from Duke University and completed his training in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he served as chief medical resident. He was a clinical fellow in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, during which time he was a McDonnell Scholar. Dr. Kaelin is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Institute of Medicine (IOM). He recently served on the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisors, the AACR Board of Trustees, and the IOM National Cancer Policy Board. He is a recipient of the Paul Marks Prize for cancer research from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Prize from the AACR. In April 2010, Dr. Kaelin was named one of five recipients of the prestigiousCanada Gairdner International Award, and he also was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. In 2016, Dr. Kaelin won the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. In 2019, Dr. Kaelin was awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine with Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe of Oxford University and the Francis Crick Institute, and Gregg L. Semenza of Johns Hopkins University. A Howard Hughes Medical Investigator since 1998, Dr. Kaelin's research seeks to understand how, mechanistically, mutations affecting tumor-suppressor genes cause cancer. His long-term goal is to lay the foundation for new anticancer therapies based on the biochemical functions of tumor suppressor proteins. His work on the VHL protein helped to motivate the eventual successful clinical testing of VEGF inhibitors and the first HIF2 Inhibitor for the treatment of kidney cancer. Moreover, this line of investigation led to new insights into how cells sense and respond to changes in oxygen, and thus has implications for diseases beyond cancer, such as anemia, myocardial infarction and stroke.
Editorial Boards: Editorial Board, Cancer Cell Editorial Board, Cancer Discovery Consulting Editor, Journal of Clinical Investigation Associate Editor, Clinical Cancer Research
Honors/Awards (Selected): Golden Plate Award and Elected Member, American Academy of Achievement (2022) Harriet P. Dustan Award for Science as Related to Medicine, American College of Physicians (2021) Distinguished Alumnus Award, Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association (2021) American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020) Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) Distinguished Scientist Award (2020) Jill Rose Award for Scientific Excellence, Breast Cancer Research Foundation (2020) Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine (2019) Massry Prize, Meira and Shaul G. Massry Foundation (2018) Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (2016) Princess Takamatsu Award, AACR (2016) Science of Oncology Award, ASCO (2016) Steven C. Beering Award (2014) AACR Academy (elected 2014) Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences (2014) Scientific Grand Prix, Foundation Lefoulon-Delalande (2012) Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award, ASCI (2012) Alfred Knudson Award in Cancer Genetics, NCI (2011) National Academy of Sciences (elected 2010) Canada Gairdner International Award (2010) AICR Colin Thomson Medal (2008) Institute of Medicine (elected 2007) Duke University School of Medicine Distinguished Alumni Award (2007) Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award (2006) Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award, AACR (2006) Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars (elected 2003) Paul Marks Prize, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (2001) James S. McDonnell Scholar Award (1993) NIH Physician-Scientist Award (1990) NIH National Research Service Award (1990) Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society (1983) Phi Beta Kappa (1978)