Dario C. Altieri, M.D.
Dario C. Altieri, M.D., is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Wistar Institute, the nation’s first independent research institution devoted solely to biomedical science and a world leader in cancer, immunology, virology and infectious disease research.
Dr. Altieri joined Wistar in 2010 as Director of its National Cancer Institute (NCI)- designated Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center, a position he continues to hold, and was the Institute’s first chief scientific officer. In 2015, he was appointed President and CEO. Altieri is also the Robert and Penny Fox Distinguished Professor.
In addition to his leadership role, Dr. Altieri leads a laboratory that studies the mechanisms underlying how tumor cells survive and proliferate in cancer. In particular, the Altieri Laboratory is interested in understanding these mechanisms, which could provide new therapeutic targets and novel approaches for virtually every type of human cancer. His own research efforts currently focus on advancing an anticancer drug developed in his laboratory that is in a phase 1 clinical trial in patients with advanced cancer.
Born in Milan, Italy, and educated at the University of Milan School of Medicine, Dr. Altieri became a practicing clinician at the university, where he earned a postgraduate specialty degree in clinical and experimental hematology.
In 1987, he joined the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, Calif., first as a research fellow and later as a member of the faculty. In 1994, Dr. Altieri became an associate professor at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., was named professor in 1999, and served in that role until 2002. He was then recruited as the founding chair of the Department of Cancer Biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass.
In 2005, he co-founded both the National Cancer Biology Training Consortium, an effort to promote scientific excellence in the next generation of cancer researchers, and the Pancreatic Cancer Alliance, an all-volunteer patient advocacy organization devoted to supporting the efforts of pancreatic cancer research.
Dr. Altieri has authored more than 260 papers, is a reviewer for 16 journals, and currently serves on the editorial board of eight scientific publications, including Genes and Cancer, Chemical Biology and Drug Design, and The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Dr. Altieri, is a member of the CEO Council of Growth, which is a devoted group of business, higher education, and civic leaders who enhance economic growth and prosperity across northern Delaware, southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania states.
