Dr. Don Cleveland stands as a preeminent leader in molecular medicine with profound contributions spanning cancer biology and neurodegenerative disease research. He currently serves as Department Chair of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and Neurosciences at the University of California San Diego, while also leading the Laboratory for Cell Biology at the San Diego branch of Ludwig Cancer Research. Born in 1950 in Waynesville, Missouri and raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Dr. Cleveland earned his B.S. in physics as valedictorian of the College of Arts and Sciences at New Mexico State University in 1972 before pursuing doctoral studies at Princeton University. His distinguished academic journey continued with postdoctoral training under William J. Rutter at the University of California San Francisco, followed by a faculty appointment at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1981 to 1995, before joining UCSD where he has held chairmanship since 2008.
Dr. Cleveland's groundbreaking research has revolutionized our understanding of both cancer mechanisms and neurodegenerative disorders through a series of seminal discoveries. As a graduate student, he provided the initial identification and characterization of tau protein, which is now recognized to accumulate in Alzheimer's disease and mediate chronic brain injury, while developing a peptide fingerprinting technique that became a citation classic. His laboratory discovered CENP-E, the centromere-associated microtubule motor essential for chromosome alignment, and identified key molecular steps that trigger and accelerate amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease progression. Most notably, his pioneering work on designer DNA drug therapy using antisense oligonucleotides has led to the recent FDA approval of Qalsody for treating SOD1-ALS, representing a transformative advance in precision neurotherapeutics that has redirected the entire field of ALS treatment strategies.
Beyond his direct research contributions, Dr. Cleveland has profoundly shaped the trajectory of neurodegenerative disease research through his visionary leadership and commitment to translating basic science into clinical applications. His identification of tau's role in intraneuronal tangles has provided critical insights not only for Alzheimer's disease but also for understanding chronic traumatic encephalopathy associated with repeated brain injury in athletics. Currently, his laboratory is advancing next-generation therapeutic approaches including CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in the nervous system and AAV9-based gene therapy for ALS and related disorders. Through his mentorship of numerous scientists and his role in establishing critical research paradigms, Dr. Cleveland continues to drive innovation in both cancer biology and neurodegenerative disease research, with his current work poised to deliver further breakthroughs in understanding genome rearrangement in cancer and developing novel treatments for devastating neurological conditions.
