Faculty Member Kathryn Anderson

Kathryn V. Anderson has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

Dr. Anderson is a highly respected scientist doing innovative work in developmental genetics. She has been Chair of SKI's Developmental Biology Program since its inception in 2002. Researchers in this program study the mechanisms that control development from the single cell of an egg to an adult animal. This work is crucial to the understanding of cancer because the molecules and signaling pathways within cells that control development also play a role in the formation of tumors. Much of the information scientists have learned about the pathways that cause cells to become cancerous comes from the study of development. Dr. Anderson's own research focuses on the genes that control the immune-system response in fruit flies and the genes that control early development in the mouse embryo.

After receiving her PhD degree in biology from the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Anderson did postdoctoral work in developmental genetics at the Max Planck Institute, in Germany. She joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering in 1996 and is the incumbent of the Enid A. Haupt Chair in Developmental Biology. She is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, to which she was elected in 2002.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is a branch of the National Academies and was established to honor professional achievement in the health sciences and to serve as a national resource for recommendations on issues related to medicine, biomedical sciences, and health. Membership in the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. Twelve members of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's faculty already are members of the IOM.