Julio Aguirre-Ghiso

Dr. Julio Aguirre-Ghiso obtained his MSc in 1994 and Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina where he trained at the Institute of Oncology “Angel H Roffo”. In 1998 Julio commenced his postdoctoral training at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM), New York, where he received a prestigious Charles H. Revson Fellowship that funded his research until he started his independent laboratory. In 2003 Julio became an independent investigator at the School of Public Health, New York State Department of Health, within the Wadsworth Center at SUNY-Albany. Julio returned to MSSM as an Associate Professor in 2008 and a few years later received tenure. In 2013 Julio was promoted to full professor with tenure. He is an internationally recognized cancer biology expert that is committed to and focused on understanding disseminated tumor cell (DTC) dormancy and its contribution to cancer relapse and metastasis. Many of his seminal papers have been published in top-tier journals including: Nature, Science, PNAS and Nature Cell Biology. The Aguirre-Ghiso lab has focused on identifying and understanding the ‘foundational’ biology of dormant DTCs and their reactivation, with the ultimate goal of targeting them for destruction and in doing so preventing cancer relapse and metastasis. He and his laboratory have built a world-leading program in cancer dormancy that continues to provide paradigm altering data that HiberCell will leverage to translate this science into innovative therapeutic opportunities for cancer patients.

Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso has received several honors including election as permanent member of the NIH Tumor Microenvironment Study Section, chairperson and keynote speaker of numerous international conferences and he was recently elected president of the Metastasis Research Society. He serves as Editorial Board member for the International Journal of Stem Cell Research, Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Diseases, Clinical & Experimental Metastasis and has served as a Breaking Advances Editor for Cancer Research. Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso’s multidisciplinary research program at MSSM has facilitated collaborative interactions with many investigators across the Tisch Cancer Institute. This team-centric approach to dormancy science and minimal residual disease (MRD) has enabled his group to seamlessly integrate independent science, thinking and research applications including genetics, epigenetics and microenvironmental control into a unified program focused on translating dormancy into the clinic. Julio’s research has resulted in more than 90 publications, >14,000 citations, an h-index of 42 and an i10-index of 69.