Judith Gasson

Dr. Gasson has spent more than 30 years at UCLA in various teaching, research and senior leadership roles. She currently serves as Senior Advisor DGSoM Research and Innovation, a role that she has held since November, 2015 and as a Director of the UCLA Technology Development Corporation. In this capacity, she works with faculty inventors, business students and faculty, and the Office Technology Development to facilitate the translation of innovative discoveries to address unmet medical needs. She also serves on the Boards of the National Marrow Donor Program, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Biocom-LA and the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation.

She served as the Director of UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and President of the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation from September 1995 until September 2015. JCCC is one of only 47 institutions designated as comprehensive cancer centers by the National Cancer Institute, and consistently rated among the nation's top ten institutions, according to U.S. News & World Report. Under her leadership, JCCC became an international pioneer in "translating" laboratory discoveries into more effective new therapies for cancer patients everywhere.

Dr. Gasson also served as Senior Associate Dean for Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine from September, 2012 until she retired three years later. She began her career at UCLA in 1983 as a Professor of Medicine (Hematology-Oncology) and Biological Chemistry. Her work was instrumental in purifying for the first time a hormone-like substance that increases the speed of bone marrow cell reproduction. That substance, called GM-CSF, also had impacts on the granulocytes and monocytes of the immune system.

Her academic credentials include a BS degree in Microbiology from Colorado State University and a Doctorate in Physiology from the University of Colorado. She did her post-doctorate work at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, studying glucocorticoid hormones.