Dr. Guillermina (Gigi) Lozano is professor and chair of the department of genetics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She received her bachelor of science degree magna cum laude in biology and mathematics from the University of Texas Pan American and her doctorate in biochemistry from Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. After a short postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University, she became a faculty member at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center where she has risen through the ranks.
Dr. Lozano directs a research laboratory that studies the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. Her contributions include the identification of the tumor suppressor p53 as a transcriptional activator, and the finding that p53 missense mutations commonly observed in cancers were transcriptionally inactive. Using animal models, she has characterized the physiological importance of Mdm2 and Mdm4 proteins as critical inhibitors of p53 and the significance of various p53 mutations on tumorigenesis in vivo.
Dr. Lozano was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was honored with the Mattie Allen Fair Research Chair in 2004 from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 2011, she received the Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship from the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. Lozano is also the recipient of distinguished alumni awards from both her undergraduate and graduate alma maters.