George F. Vande Woude (December 25, 1935 – April 13, 2021) was a scientist and former director at

Van Andel Research Institute Van Andel Institute (VAI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit biomedical research and science education organization in Grand Rapids, Michigan. VAI was founded by Jay and Betty Van Andel in 1996. The institute's research focuses on cancer epigenetics and ...

in Michigan studying

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

Early life

George Vande Woude was born on December 25, 1935, in New York City to George and Alice (Leudesdorff) Vande Woude. He was married to the former Dorothy Stapel for over 57 years until her death in 2016.

Education

Vande Woude graduated from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

with an MS and PhD in 1962 and 1964, respectively. While at Rutgers, he trained with Dr. Frank F. Davis. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

Plum Island Animal Disease Center Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) is a United States federal research facility dedicated to the study of foreign animal diseases of livestock. It is part of the Department of Homeland Security Directorate for Science and Technology, an ...

from 1964 to 1972.

Career

He joined the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

in 1972 and was a member for 28 years. In 1983, he took the lead at NCI's

Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) is a United States federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) supported by the National Cancer Institute and managed by the private contractor Leidos Biomedical Research. ...

for 15 years. He was Director of Basic Sciences at NCI when he was recruited to lead the new VARI. In 1998, he became the first director of Van Andel Research Institute and served until 2009. He was a Fellow at VARI. He recruited several young scientists to VARI who have developed successful careers, including Bart Williams from the NCI laboratory of former National Institutes of Health director

Harold Varmus Harold Eliot Varmus (born December 18, 1939) is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist. He is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a senior associate at the New York Genome Center. He was a ...

, Cindy Miranti from the Harvard laboratory of

Joan Brugge Joan S. Brugge is the Louise Foote Pfeiffer Professor of Cell Biology and the Director of the Ludwig Center at Harvard Medical School, where she also served as the Chair of the Department of Cell Biology from 2004 to 2014. Her research focuses on ...

. In 1984, Vande Woude discovered the oncogene MET, which is mutated in many cancers, and characterized it as a

receptor tyrosine kinase Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are the high-affinity cell surface receptors for many polypeptide growth factors, cytokines, and hormones. Of the 90 unique tyrosine kinase genes identified in the human genome, 58 encode receptor tyrosine kinase ...

. MET is now the target of many cancer drugs in development. His laboratory also discovered the MOS oncogene. In total, he has been a co-author on 297 PubMed referenced publications during his career.

Awards

* 2013 - Elected Fellow of the

AACR Academy The American Association for Cancer Research elects classes of fellows to recognize influential scientists in the field of cancer research. Six fellows were appointed to Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative Blue Ribbon Panel. Severa ...

* 2009 - Distinguished Scientific Fellow, Van Andel Research Institute * 2006–20?? Chair, Council of Scientific Advisors,

American Association for Cancer Research The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's oldest and largest professional association related to cancer research. Based in Philadelphia, the AACR focuses on all aspects of cancer research, including basic, clinical, and t ...

* 2006 - Elected Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

* 2001-2004 - Member of the Board of Directors,

* 1997 - Elected Member of the

American Academy of Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

* 1993 - Elected Member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

* 1992 - Lifetime Achievement Award in Technology Transfer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration * 1989 - Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Award for Cancer Research * 1985 - Founder and President, Foundation for Advanced Cancer Studies * 1983-1998 - Director of the ABL-Basic Research Program,

* 1982 -

National Institutes of Health MERIT Award The NIH MERIT award (Method To Extend Research in Time) Award (R37) was created by the National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary age ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woude, George 1935 births 2021 deaths American medical researchers Rutgers University alumni Cancer researchers People from New York City Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences