Barbara J. Wold received the AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship.
Wold was recently appointed as the director of the Merkin Institute for Translational Research at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She is also the Bren Professor of Molecular Biology and the principal investigator of the Functional Genomics Resource Center at the Beckman Institute at Caltech. Wold was previously the Beckman Institute director from 2001 to 2011.
Wold has used next-generation sequencing techniques to study RNA expression in mice. Wold was among the first to use deep NGS profiling, noting the expression of both known and not-yet-annotated genes and splice isoforms.
Wold helped found the L. K. Whittier Gene Expression Center and the Special Center for Biological Circuit Design at Caltech. In 2012, she founded the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Genomics.
The AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship was established in 2004 to acknowledge an individual whose outstanding scientific innovation and thought leadership has inspired creative thinking and new directions in cancer research. The recipient of this award is selected annually by the AACR President. Wold was chosen by Elaine R. Mardis, AACR president for the 2019-2020 term.
