Dr. Stephen B. Baylin is a preeminent cancer biologist and leading authority in cancer epigenetics, currently serving as the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Oncology and Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He holds multiple leadership positions including Co-Director of the Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics Program and Associate Director for Research Programs at The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. A distinguished alumnus of Duke University, Dr. Baylin earned his medical degree in 1968 and completed his internship and initial residency in internal medicine at Duke before conducting research at the National Heart and Lung Institute of the National Institutes of Health. He joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1971, where he has remained throughout his illustrious career, rising to full Professor in 1986 and serving as Deputy Director of the Cancer Center from 1992 to 2015.
Dr. Baylin pioneered the field of cancer epigenetics, co-discovering cancer-specific changes in DNA methylation patterns that lead to aberrant gene silencing in tumor cells, a groundbreaking contribution made more than three decades ago. His seminal research established that DNA hypermethylation of gene promoters serves as an alternative mechanism to mutations for producing loss of tumor suppressor gene function, fundamentally transforming our understanding of cancer development. Together with colleagues, he developed approaches to systematically identify epigenetically silenced genes in cancer and elucidated the molecular mechanisms responsible for initiating and maintaining this silencing. With over 475 publications to his name, Dr. Baylin's work has provided the foundation for epigenetic therapies now being developed to reverse these abnormalities in cancer treatment.
Beyond his research achievements, Dr. Baylin has been instrumental in shaping the global cancer epigenetics research community through his co-leadership of the Van Andel Research Institute Stand Up To Cancer Epigenetics Dream Team with Peter Jones. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2017 in recognition of his transformative contributions to the field and received the 2022-2023 Harvey Prize in Science and Technology alongside colleagues Peter Jones and Andrew Feinberg. As a Visiting Professor of Cancer Epigenetics at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oxford since 2021, he continues to guide international collaborations to advance basic and translational research in cancer epigenetics. His ongoing work focuses on developing epigenetic therapies that target the fundamental mechanisms of gene silencing in cancer, positioning him at the forefront of a new generation of precision cancer treatments. Dr. Baylin's visionary leadership continues to catalyze innovative approaches that bridge basic epigenetic discoveries with clinical applications for cancer patients worldwide.
