Robert L. Strausberg has been appointed to the position of Deputy Scientific Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Strausberg, who was previously the Institute’s Executive Vice President for Research, will work with its new Scientific Director Chi Van Dang to manage the basic and clinical research activities of the Institute and oversee the selection and review of its research staff. Along with others in senior management, he will also help the Scientific Director and the CEO Edward A. McDermott, Jr. formulate strategic and policy initiatives, and play a central role in their implementation. Finally, Strausberg will continue to facilitate collaboration between researchers across the Branches and Centers of Ludwig Cancer Research and forge partnerships with other research organizations. These responsibilities include managing externally funded interdisciplinary research grants.
Strausberg brings considerable experience to his new post. As Executive Vice President for Research, he was instrumental to developing the internal and external collaborative research programs of Ludwig Cancer Research—including a major partnership for cancer prevention with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Before joining Ludwig in 2010, Strausberg served as Deputy Director of the J. Craig Venter Institute. Prior to that, he held several positions at the US National Institutes of Health, including Director of the Cancer Genomics Office at the National Cancer Institute. While at the NIH, Strausberg led the NCI’s Cancer Genome Anatomy Project and the NIH Mammalian Gene Collection, and was Chief of the Sequencing Technology Branch at the National Center for Human Genome Research (now the NHGRI). Before joining the NIH, he was Senior Director of Research for Genex Corporation. Strausberg received his Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from Ohio State University and completed his post-doctoral training at Southwestern Medical School, in Dallas, Texas.