Dr. Webster Cavenee is a pioneer in our understanding of the role that hereditary predisposition plays into the development of cancer. In 1991 he became Director of Ludwig Cancer Research, San Diego and Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego.
Dr. Cavenee received his PhD with honors in 1977 from the University of Kansas Medical School and then did postdoctoral work at the Jackson Laboratory, MIT, and the University of Utah. He held faculty positions at the University of Cincinnati and McGill University.
Dr. Cavenee is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a past-President of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, a Fellow for the National Foundation for Cancer Research, and a Fellow of the International Union Against Cancer. He is on the editorial boards of several journals and has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, as well as numerous advisory boards for philanthropic foundations (including the National Brain Tumor Society and the Brain Tumor Funders Collaborative) and biotechnology companies.
His work on the genetic basis of cancer predisposition and progression comprises more than 300 publications and has been recognized with more than 80 honors and awards, most notably the Rhoads Award of AACR, the Charles S. Mott Prize of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, and the Albert Szent Gyorgyi Award. His work in GBM research, including with the Defeat GBM Research Collaborative earned him AACR’s 2014 Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in cancer research.