Levi A. Garraway is an American oncologist. His research team was among the first to adapt genomics technologies to enable scalable, high-throughput clinical approaches to cancer gene mutation profiling. As a result, he was inducted into the

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...

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 ...

, and

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...

Early life and education

Garraway was born to parents Annie Marie Watkins Garraway and Michael Garraway in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. His mother earned a Ph.D. in mathematics and became a department chair at AT&T Bell Labs. As well, his uncle

Levi Watkins Levi Watkins Jr. (June 13, 1944 – April 11, 2015) was an American heart surgeon and civil rights activist. On February 4, 1980, he and Vivien Thomas were the first to successfully implant an automatic defibrillator in a human patient at Johns Ho ...

was the first African-American student admitted to and graduate from

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Vanderbilt University School of Medicine is a graduate medical school of Vanderbilt University located in Nashville, Tennessee. Located in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center on the southeastern side of the Vanderbilt University campus, the S ...

. His father, an émigré from the Caribbean, was also a professor of plant biology at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. While Garraway was in high school, he hung around the university lab and helped his father with experiments. Garraway received his A.B. in biochemical sciences from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

and his

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

and Ph.D. from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. He then completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

and his fellowship training in medical oncology at the

Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana–Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated b ...

. His choice to pursue a medical degree on top of his PhD was the result of his academic family, specifically his uncle.

Career

Upon completing his fellowship, Garraway became an associate member of the

Broad Institute The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (IPA: , pronunciation respelling: ), often referred to as the Broad Institute, is a biomedical and genomic research center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U ...

and an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

in the Department of Medical Oncology at the

. At Broad Institute, Garraway's research involved the systematic characterization of critical and targetable mechanisms enacted by common genomic alterations in human tumors. His research team was among the first to adapt genomics technologies to enable scalable, high-throughput clinical approaches to cancer gene mutation profiling. In 2007, Garraway and Matthew Meyerson published a paper detailing a method for large-panel testing of 238 DNA

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mi ...

s. This led to the establishment of

Foundation Medicine Foundation Medicine, Inc. is an American company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which develops, manufactures, and sells genomic profiling assays based on next-generation sequencing technology for solid tumors, hematologic malignancies, and sa ...

. As a result of his discovery, Garraway was eleceted a member of the

in 2009. During his tenure at the Broad Institute, Garraway also became the co-leader of the Cancer Genetics Program at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

at Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. In 2012, Garraway was a recipient of the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research from the

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...

as a "promising scientist under the age of 45 in recognition of his contributions to cancer research." He also earned the 19th annual Herbert and Maxine Block Memorial Lectureship Award for Achievement in Cancer. On September 14, 2016, Garraway was appointed the Senior Vice President of Global Oncology at

Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 countries. The company was founded in 1876 by, and named after, Colonel ...

, succeeding Richard Gaynor. In October 2019, Garraway started his new leadership role as

Roche Holding AG F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX S ...

's Chief Medical Officer. He was also elected to the

for "visionary contributions to the establishment of genomics-driven precision cancer medicine by pioneering high-throughput adaptation of genomic technologies to profile human tumors to identify actionable cancer gene mutations, allowing for precise patient population stratification." During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Garraway was elected a member of the

"for the discovery of genetic drivers of melanoma, prostate cancer, and other malignancies, the discovery of mechanisms of response and resistance to anticancer therapies in melanoma and other cancer types, pioneering platforms and approaches to cancer precision medicine, and incorporating precision medicine principles in therapeutic development."

Personal life

Garraway and his wife Gisele have two children together; a son and a daughter. , his younger sister Isla is a urologist and surgeon at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center The Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) is a cancer research center at University of California, Los Angeles. History The center was originated by UCLA scientists and volunteers who began working together in the late 1960s.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garraway, Levi Living people People from Oakland, California Harvard University faculty Members of the National Academy of Medicine Members of the American Society for Clinical Investigation American oncologists Fellows of the AACR Academy Harvard College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Year of birth missing (living people)