Photograph of Mark Groudine, M.D., Ph.D.
AAAS news release and complete list of 2006 fellows
SEATTLE — April 26, 2006 — Mark T. Groudine, M.D., Ph.D., deputy director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and former director of the Center's Basic Sciences Division, has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, or AAAS. He is among 175 new fellows and 20 new foreign honorary members elected this year.
Other new AAAS fellows include two former U.S. presidents, the chief justice of the United States, a Nobel laureate and several Pulitzer Prize winners.
Groudine, who began his research career at the Hutchinson Center more than 25 years ago, is the fourth member of the Center to be elected into AAAS and the only Center researcher to have been elected also into the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.
As deputy director of the Hutchinson Center, Groudine oversees the implementation of the Center's scientific strategies, including faculty recruitment, interdivisional program direction, scientific oversight of the Center's Shared Resources, and academic partnerships, including the Hutchinson Center/UW Cancer Consortium and UW relations.
As a member and former director of the Hutchinson Center's Basic Sciences Division, Groudine has led extensive, diverse programs of research in cellular and molecular biology. The division's Nobel Prize-winning research has been recognized internationally for furthering knowledge about cell-cycle regulation, cellular differentiation and development, and the molecular basis of gene activity. Scientific advances in these areas are essential for understanding cancer formation and growth.
In addition to his leadership talents in creating an atmosphere in which other scientists can flourish, Groudine is internationally noted for his own research contributions on the control of gene expression and the structure of chromatin, the substance in the nucleus of living cells that contains genes and forms chromosomes.
His research team discovered mechanisms that orchestrate the structure of certain chromosomal regions and thereby either activate or silence large sets of genes. Groudine's most recent studies have focused on the relationship between gene activity and the organization of the cell nucleus. For example, his laboratory has shown that certain DNA elements and associated protein complexes establish gene activity by keeping genes away from nuclear compartments that silence gene expression.
In addition to laboratory research, Groudine is nationally recognized for his expertise in oncology. He received his medical and doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his clinical training at the University of Washington School of Medicine, where he is a professor of radiation oncology.
He has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Division of Cancer Treatment of the National Cancer Institute, is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a recipient of the Allison Eberlein Fund Award, which recognizes major contributions in the field of hematology/oncology.
Other AAAS fellows at the Hutchinson Center are Lee Hartwell, Ph.D., president and director of the Center who in 2001 received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his work in yeast genetics; Robert Eisenman, Ph.D., a leader in the field of oncogenes, aberrantly regulated genes that cause cancer; and the late Harold M. Weintraub, Ph.D., an international leader in the field of molecular biology.
Founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, the AAAS elects the finest minds and most influential leaders from each generation, including George Washington, Ben Franklin, Daniel Webster, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill. The current membership includes more than 170 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners.
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Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our researchers, including three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for health, knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more information, please visit www.fhcrc.org.
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