Anna Marie Skalka

Dr. Skalka is Professor Emerita and former W.W. Smith Chair in Cancer Research at the Institute for Cancer Research at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, where she served as Sr. Vice President for Basic Science from 1987 until 2008. She received her Ph.D. degree in Microbiology from New York University Medical School. Dr. Skalka has made seminal contributions to our knowledge of the unique structures and function of viral DNAs and gained international recognition for her work on retroviral oncogenesis and for elucidation of the biochemical mechanisms by which retroviruses (including the AIDS virus) replicate and insert their genetic material into the host genome, fundamental knowledge that provided the groundwork for development of antiviral drugs. Dr. Skalka has published more than 240 scientific papers and scholarly reviews, has edited several scientific books, and organized and spoken at numerous national and international meetings and conferences. She is co-author of the widely acclaimed, two-volume textbook, Principles of Virology (now in its 5th edition), and author of Discovering Retroviruses: Beacons in the Biosphere, a book for the science-interested public, published in 2018 by Harvard University Press. In addition to service on numerous scientific advisory boards, Dr. Skalka has been a frequent science adviser to both State and Federal government agencies and international advisory groups concerned with the broader, societal implications of scientific research. In recognition of her many accomplishments, she has been honored by election to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Science, and the American Academy of Microbiology, and has received several prestigious awards including the 2018 Sigma Xi William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement and Communication.