Leonard Ira Zon

Leonard I. Zon is the Grousbeck Professor of Pediatric Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Founder Director of the Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital Boston. A renowned pediatrician and researcher specializing in blood diseases, Zon is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Chair of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s Executive Committee. As a practicing pediatrician, Zon has been involved in many battles fought by physicians, researchers, parents, and small children against an enemy disease; he has experienced the pain and deep frustration of losing some of these young patients because science had not yet found a way to deliver the help they needed. When human ES cells were first isolated and grown in a laboratory in 1998, Zon recognized their potential as a source of hope for his own and so many other young patients. He has since gained international recognition for his pioneering research in the fields of stem cell biology and cancer genetics. His current research focuses on two critical avenues of investigation: (1) identifying the genes that direct stem cells to become cancers or to develop into more specialized blood or organ cells, and (2) developing chemical or genetic suppressors to cure cancers and many other devastating disease. Zon has received extensive recognition for his work, including the E. Donnal Thomas Lecture and Prize of the American Society of Hematology, the ISEH Donald Metcalf Lecture Award, the Pioneer Award in Stem Cells, and the Simon Gratz Award. In addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership, he is a member of the Institute of the National Academies, the American Association of Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the American Medical Association. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was the founding President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. His numerous publications appear in prominent journals such as Cell and Nature.