Denise Montell

Denise Montell earned her B. A. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from UCSD and a Ph.D. in Neurosciences from Stanford. After a postdoc at the Carnegie Institution, she joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, rising to Full Professor, and serving as Founding Director of the Center for Cell Dynamics. In 2013 she returned to her roots at the University of California, where she is now the Robert and Patricia Duggan Professor and a Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at UCSB. Professor Montell has garnered numerous awards including the Lucille P. Markey Scholar Award, the American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award, a W. M. Keck Foundation Award, and the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. She served as the 2020 President of the Genetics Society of America and has served on advisory boards for the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the American Cancer Society. She currently serves on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Cancer Institute. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Cell Biology and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.