J. Silvio Gutkind, Ph.D.

Chief, Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

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Dr. J. Silvio Gutkind is a Senior Investigator in the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health (USA), and is the Chief of the Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Branch. He received his Ph.D. in pharmacy and biochemistry from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He came to the National Institutes of Health in 1986 as an International Fogarty Fellow at the Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, to study neuropeptide receptor function in individual brain nuclei. He joined the National Cancer Institute in 1988, where he carried out research on the normal and oncogenic function of non-receptor protein-tyrosine kinases. He subsequently moved to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, where he established a new program addressing the molecular basis of cancer, with emphasis on basic mechanisms of cell growth control and their dysregulation in squamous cell carcinogenesis and AIDS-malignancies. In 1998, he was appointed as the Chief of the Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Branch.

Dr. Gutkind is a national and international leader in the study of basic mechanisms in malignant cell growth and in head and neck cancer research. His laboratory has addressed the molecular basis of cancer by studying normal and aberrant functions of molecules involved in the transduction of proliferative signals. His group has made seminal contributions to the field, and helped elucidate some of the basic molecular mechanisms whereby cell surface receptors, including those linked to heterotrimeric G proteins, regulate the nuclear expression of growth promoting genes. His research team has also pioneered the use of genomic and proteomic approaches to understand head and neck cancer, and has led an international effort aimed at deciphering the nature of the genes expressed in oral malignancies. He has been member of numerous Editorial Boards of scientific journals, including Oral Oncology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular Biology of the Cell, and Biochemistry, has being the Editor and Co-Editor of three books, “Signaling Networks and Cell Cycle Control”, “Head and Neck Cancer, Emerging Perspectives”, and “Signal Transduction and Human Disease”, which reflects his leadership role in the field.

Dr. Gutkind has been the recipient of numerous awards including the National Institute of Dental Research Director’s Exemplary Service Award and the National Institutes of Health Merit Award, and the IADR Oral Medicine and Pathology Research Award. He has organized several national and international symposia, and is a highly sought after speaker, having delivered numerous keynote lectures at the most prestigious national and international meetings and conferences. He has published over 220 scientific manuscripts, including many studies in top ranked journals, and contributed numerous review articles and book chapters addressing both basic molecular mechanisms and oral cancer research.