Arnold J. Levine Becomes Eighth President of The Rockefeller University.
Arnold J. Levine, one of the world’s leading cancer researchers, officially became the eighth president of The Rockefeller University at the university’s board meeting on Wed., Dec. 2. Levine, who was elected president in June 1998, succeeds Torsten N. Wiesel, who is retiring after seven years of service as Rockefeller’s president.
“Levine is one of the nation’s most distinguished cancer biologists, with a scientific career full of impressive accomplishments,” says Wiesel.
In 1979, Levine discovered the p53 tumor suppressor protein, a molecule that inhibits tumor development and whose disruption is associated with an estimated 60 percent of human cancers.Levine comes to Rockefeller from Princeton University, where, as chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology from 1984 through 1996, he presided over a major expansion of programs in the life sciences.
Click here for an interview with President Levine.
Click here for a description of p53.
“Dr. Levine’s wide-ranging experience includes supervision of excellent laboratory and clinical research, direction of a large-scale academic expansion and powerful advocacy for more effective federal science policy,” says Board Chairman Richard Fisher. “I am confident that the university will continue to flourish during his presidency, just as it has under Torsten Wiesel’s inspired leadership.”