Chi Van Dang

Chi Van Dang is CEO & Scientific Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Cancer Medicine at Johns Hopkins. He is a physician-scientist, who trained as an Osler medical resident, served as Director of the Division of Hematology and then as Vice Dean for Research at Johns Hopkins. He then served as Director of the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn before assuming his current positions. He contributed to the understanding of the function of the Myc oncogene, commonly altered in many cancers. His laboratory established a mechanistic link between Myc and cellular energy metabolism, which sparked the concept that genetic alterations could lead to metabolic reprogramming within tumors. His research provided evidence that aberrant cancer cell signaling pathways stimulated by various mutations exhibit dependence for specific nutrients to drive further proliferation. These observations have been heralded for helping to explain the “Warburg Effect” observed in cancer cells and have led to subsequent studies dedicated to the targeted disruption of aberrant cell metabolic pathways and develop drugs to inhibit cancer progression. He came to the US in 1967, graduated from the University of Michigan in 1975 and went on to obtain a Ph.D. in chemistry from Georgetown University. Dang subsequently obtained an MD from Johns Hopkins University and completed a fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, before returning to Johns Hopkins. Dr. Dang served as president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, participated on the Biden Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel, chaired the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors, and was Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Research. He serves on the Vinfuture Prize council and the Keystone Symposia board of directors. As scientific director, he oversees Ludwig Institute branches located at Princeton University, USA, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and University of Oxford, UK and coordinate research activities in Ludwig Centers located at Johns Hopkins, MSKCC, Harvard, MIT, U of Chicago, and Stanford. He has mentored over 50 graduate and medical students, post-doctoral and clinical fellows. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy, member of Association of American Physicians, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation