Dr. Douglas Hanahan is a distinguished scholar and leading authority in cancer biology whose work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of tumorigenesis and cancer progression. He currently serves as a Distinguished Scholar at the Lausanne Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and holds Emeritus Professor status in Molecular Oncology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne where he previously directed the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research. Dr. Hanahan received his S.B. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University before establishing his research career at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the University of California San Francisco. His leadership extended to founding the Swiss Cancer Center Leman and guiding the development of the Agora Translational Cancer Research Center, cementing Switzerland's position in global cancer research.
Dr. Hanahan pioneered the creation of one of the first genetically engineered mouse models that develop cancers in specific organs, published in a landmark Nature paper that demonstrated the complexity of multistep tumorigenesis. In collaboration with the late Judah Folkman, he discovered the critical angiogenic switch that triggers blood vessel growth essential for tumor development, opening new avenues for anti-angiogenic cancer therapies. His most influential contribution came through co-authoring with Robert Weinberg the seminal perspective The Hallmarks of Cancer, which established an organizing framework that has conceptually integrated the vast complexity of cancer biology and guided research directions for over two decades. This conceptual breakthrough has been cited tens of thousands of times and continues to evolve as new hallmarks and enabling characteristics are identified, fundamentally reshaping how scientists approach cancer research and therapeutic development.
Dr. Hanahan's laboratory continues to investigate tumor development and progression using sophisticated genetically engineered mouse models that recapitulate human cancers, with strategic focus on melanoma, glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer, and squamous carcinomas. His work on the tumor microenvironment and the role of accessory cells in supporting malignant disease has provided critical insights into therapeutic resistance mechanisms. As a member of the US National Academies of Science and Medicine, a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London, and recipient of the AACR Lifetime Achievement Award, he remains influential in shaping cancer research globally. Current research in his laboratory explores mechanisms of adaptive resistance to therapies targeting hallmark capabilities, developing combinatorial approaches to overcome resistance and improve clinical outcomes for cancer patients through translation to clinical trials.
