Dr. Druker has been called the father of targeted cancer therapy for revolutionizing the treatment of cancer through his research to develop Gleevec®, the first drug to target the genetic defect of a particular cancer while leaving healthy cells unharmed. Gleevec®, which turned a once-fatal leukemia into a manageable condition, was featured on the cover of Time magazine and received FDA approval in record time; it has spurred development of similar precision therapies for many other cancers. Druker is expanding the Knight Cancer Institute’s scientific leadership by establishing a large-scale program to improve the early detection of lethal cancers.
Druker has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Sjöberg Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Warren Alpert Prize from Harvard Medical School, the Lasker-DeBakey Award for Clinical Medical Research, the Japan Prize in Healthcare and Medical Technology, the Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science. He has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
