John D. Carpten, PhD, currently serves as professor and chair for the Department of Translational Genomics, and director of the Institute for Translational Genomics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. Previously he was professor and deputy director of basic sciences, Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix, AZ.
Dr. Carpten’s research background spans a very broad range of topics including work in germline genetics, tumor genome analysis, cancer cell biology, and health disparities. His research program centers around the development and application of cutting edge genomic technologies and bioinformatics analysis in search of germ-line and somatic alterations that are associated with cancer risk and tumor biology, respectively. His work spans many of the known cancer types including but not limited to prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, brain cancer, multiple myeloma, and pediatric cancers.
Moreover, Dr. Carpten has an intense focus on understanding the role of biology in disparate cancer incidence and mortality rates seen among underrepresented populations. He was named a Science Trailblazer by Spectrum Magazine in 2006, and was awarded the Susan G. Komen Distinguished Lectureship on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in 2014 for his untiring work in ensuring that all people are equally represented in science and innovative healthcare. More recently, Dr. Carpten was awarded the Jane Cooke Wright Memorial Lectureship by Minorities in Cancer Research of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) for his outstanding work in cancer disparities and his efforts to develop the careers of minority scientists.
Dr. Carpten has participated in numerous evaluative positions throughout his career. He served as a senior editor for Cancer Research, a journal of the AACR, and as an ad hoc editor for a number of other high impact journals. He has served on and chaired several NIH study sections, and is currently a permanent member of the NCI Board of Scientific Counselors. He also sits on one of the NIH director’s special advisory committees. He served as Program Committee Chairperson for the AACR 2019 Annual Meeting in Atlanta and co-chaired the AACR inaugural Special Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities.