A. Thomas Look

A. Thomas Look, MD Vice Chair for Research, Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA A. Thomas Look, MD, is professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, vice chair for research in the Department of Pediatric Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and co-leader of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center’s Leukemia Program. Over the past two decades, Dr. Look has published multiple peer-reviewed papers about the molecular basis of apoptosis and cancer, and the application of molecular genetic findings to improve the treatment of hematologic malignancies, particularly T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) , acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). He moved from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 1999 specifically to establish a research program in zebrafish models of hematologic malignancies, with the goal to conduct genetic studies aimed at the identification of novel targets for cancer therapy. He is internationally recognized as a leader in this field. Dr. Look’s work at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute led to the first transgenic model of leukemia in the zebrafish, paving the way for chemical and genome-wide genetic modifier screens in a vertebrate disease model. Recently, his laboratory has developed the first zebrafish transgenic model of childhood neuroblastoma, opening up the opportunity to apply the powerful genetic technology available in the zebrafish to identify new molecular targets for therapy in this devastating childhood tumor. Dr. Look has received numerous awards for his research, including the Allison Eberlein Award for Childhood Leukemia Research, the Award for Excellence from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the 10th Annual Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation Memorial Lectureship, the Pediatric Oncology Lectureship of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the ASPHO Frank A. Oski Memorial Lectureship Award, and election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.