Roger J. Davis is a molecular biologist. He is the H. Arthur Smith Chair in Cancer Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Davis is known for his research on signaling mechanisms related to the body's response to stress. His laboratory identified the human cJun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway, which mediates stress responses. His research has contributed to understanding mechanisms involved in normal physiology and various diseases, including inflammation, diabetes, cancer, and neurodegeneration. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Davis received his early education at Loose Primary School in Loose, Kent, UK, from 1966 to 1969, followed by Maidstone Grammar School in Maidstone, Kent, UK, from 1969 to 1976. He then attended Cambridge University (Queens' College), where he completed his undergraduate studies from 1976 to 1979, earning a BA, and continued as a graduate student from 1979 to 1982, obtaining an MPhil, MA, and PhD. He is recognized as an eminent alumnus of Queens' College, Cambridge.[1]
Davis began his career as a Research Fellow at Queens' College, Cambridge University from 1983 to 1985. He then served as a Damon Runyon Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Medical School from 1984 to 1985.[2] Davis joined the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School as an assistant professor from 1985 to 1989, later becoming an associate professor from 1989 to 1993. He was an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1990 to 2019.[3] Since 1993, he has been a professor in the Program in Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he also holds the H. Arthur Smith Endowed Chair since 2002[4] and has served as chair of the Program in Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School since 2019.[5]