Lustgarten Foundation Appoints David Tuveson, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientist

WOODBURY, NY – The Lustgarten Foundation announced today the appointment of David Tuveson, M.D., Ph.D., as its Chief Scientist. Dr. Tuveson is the Director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cancer Center, the Roy J. Zuckerberg Professor of Cancer Research and oversees the Lustgarten Foundation’s dedicated research laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He previously served as the Foundation’s Research Director. As Chief Scientist, Dr. Tuveson will have full responsibility for the scientific and research functions of the Foundation, effective immediately.

“We are delighted that David will be devoting even more time and strategic oversight to the Foundation in his new role,” said Kerri Kaplan, President and CEO. “With his vast experience and knowledge, David is the ideal person to direct the Foundation’s research program as we continue to expand our portfolio and lead the way in funding pancreatic cancer research.”

“There has never been a more exciting time in pancreatic cancer research,” Dr. Tuveson said. “We are now taking our science into the clinic and impacting patient outcomes in real time. I want patients to know that we are making progress.”

Dr. Tuveson Brings Research and Clinical Expertise
Dr. Tuveson obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and medical and doctoral degrees at The Johns Hopkins University. He was a medical resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a medical oncology fellow at Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care. During his postdoctoral years in Boston, Dr. Tuveson co-developed KIT inhibitors for gastrointestinal stromal tumors and co-created several Kras-dependent mouse cancer models. His lab also generated the first mouse models of ductal pancreatic cancer at the University of Pennsylvania. Subsequently he moved to the University of Cambridge, UK, to develop preclinical and clinical therapeutic strategies for pancreatic cancer. In Cambridge, his lab identified a variety of parameters that limit therapeutic efficacy in pancreatic cancer, including poor drug delivery and survival factors in the microenvironment. These findings are currently being evaluated in the clinic.

In 2012, Dr. Tuveson was recruited back to the US to direct the Cancer Therapeutics Initiative within Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Cancer Center and to establish the Lustgarten Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Research Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In 2016, he was appointed director of the Laboratory’s National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center. He has an adjunct appointment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a clinical affiliation at Northwell Health. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Council for Stand Up To Cancer and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Georg Speyer Haus. His honors include the Rita Allen Foundation Scholar Award, the Waldenstrom Award (2014), the Hamdan Award (2016), and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2016).