| Office: | 11th Director of the National Cancer Institute | ||||||
| President: | Bill Clinton George W. Bush | ||||||
| Term Start: | August 1, 1995 | ||||||
| Term End: | September 30, 2001 | ||||||
| Predecessor: | Samuel Broder | ||||||
| Successor: | Andrew C. von Eschenbach | ||||||
| Module: |
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| Spouses: | )--> | ||||||
| Children: | 4 | ||||||
Richard D. Klausner is an American scientist who served as the 11th director of the National Cancer Institute of the United States.
Klausner was born in . His father was a chemist, and Klausner would visit his father's laboratory as a child. He began studying physics at Yale University, but changed his focus to biology, with the plan of becoming a doctor in a rural area.[1] Klausner received his MD from Duke Medical School in 1976.[2]
In 1979, Klausner joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a postdoctoral fellow. At age 30, Klausner was appointed to the chief of the cell biology and metabolism branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.[1]
In 1992, he directed the review of the NIH's intramural research programs, in which he recommended sweeping changes.[1] He served as the director of the National Cancer Institute from 1995 to 2001, where he managed a staff of 5,000 employees and a budget of $4.5 billion. In total, he spent more than 20 years at the NIH.
He left the NCI to become the founding director of the Case Institute of Health, Science and Technology of the Case Foundation.[3] [4]
He was the managing partner of the biotech venture capital firm, the Column Group.From 2002 to 2005, he was the executive director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[5] [6]
He was a member of the Searle Scholars advisory board.[7] He was a scientific advisor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.[8] He has been an Advisor to the Presidents of the Academies for counter-terrorism and a liaison to the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy,[9] and was the chief strategy advisor for USAID.[10]
Klausner co-founded Juno Therapeutics in 2013, GRAIL in 2015.[11] and MindStrong Health in 2014. He was the chief medical officer of Illumina from 2013 to 2016.[12]
In 2022, Klausner co-founded Altos Labs and is currently Chief Scientist and Board Co-Chairman of the company.[13]
He was president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation from 1995 to 1996.[14]
His research focused on T cells and the potential for CAR-T therapies.[15] He also has published research on the genetics of Von Hippel–Lindau disease, a condition which predisposes a person to developing cancer.[8] He is an author of more than 300 scientific articles.[9]
Klausner has two sons and twin daughters.[1]