Loren D. Walensky

Dr. Walensky is a Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Principal Investigator and Attending Physician in the Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Children’s Hospital Boston, and Director of the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program.

Loren’s research focuses on the chemical biology of deregulated apoptotic, transcriptional, and metabolic pathways in cancer. The group develops and applies “stapled peptides” that preserve the primary and secondary structure of biologically-active motifs as new chemical probes and prototype therapeutics to respectively dissect and target pathologic signaling pathways in vitro and in vivo. He is a current recipient of an Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute. Over the years, Loren’s research has led to the founding of several biotechnology companies, including Aileron Therapeutics, WntRx and, most recently, Lytica Therapeutics.

Loren received his B.A. in Chemistry from Princeton University, MD and PhD degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and trained in pediatrics and pediatric hematology/oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.