William G. Kaelin Jr.

William G. Kaelin Jr., MD, is a Nobel Prize-winning physician-scientist affiliated with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. As the Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, his work focuses on tumor suppressor genes, oxygen sensing, and kidney cancer pathogenesis.

• Education: MD from Duke University (1982), followed by residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

His research established the VHL-HIF-VEGF axis as a central mechanism in renal cell carcinoma, linking oxygen deprivation to cancer progression. He pioneered the concept of synthetic lethality in VHL-defective cancers and elucidated roles of histone demethylases like KDM5A/RBP2 in tumor biology.

Key publications (2023–2021) explore hypoxia-driven oncogenesis, IDH mutations in gliomas, and metabolic vulnerabilities in kidney cancer. His work bridges fundamental discoveries to clinical trials, including VEGF and HIF2 inhibitors.

• Scientific recognition: Nobel Prize (2019), Lasker Award (2016), Gairdner Award (2010), and election to the National Academy of Sciences (2010).

As director of the Kaelin Lab, he leads multidisciplinary teams investigating oxygen-sensing pathways, tumor metabolism, and novel anticancer therapies. His lab emphasizes translating molecular insights into precision medicine frameworks.