Richard Gilbertson

Richard Gilbertson FRS FMedSci FRCP
Born	Richard James Gilbertson
Alma mater	Newcastle University (B.Med.Sci, MB BS, PhD)
Awards	Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
Scientific career
Institutions	Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Newcastle University
Thesis	(1998)
Website	www.cruk.cam.ac.uk/research-groups/gilbertson-group

Richard James Gilbertson is the 44th Master of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge ^[1] and the Li Ka Shing Chair of Oncology at the University of Cambridge. He is also a Senior Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge. ^[2]

Education

Gilbertson attended Medical School at Newcastle University, ^[3] graduating with Bachelor of Medical Science, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degrees in 1992. ^[4] He went on to complete his PhD in 1998 as an MRC Clinical Training Fellow with Professors Andrew Pearson and John Lunec before becoming an MRC Clinical Scientist in 1998. ^[5]

Career and research

Gilbertson's research focuses on understanding the link between normal development and the origins of cancer, with a particular focus on children's brain tumours. ^{[6] [7]} He has shown that clinically distinct subtypes of childhood medulloblastoma and ependymoma arise within different lineages of developing brain and are driven by distinct mutations in their DNA. ^{[8] [9] [10] [11]} His work has also shown that a combination of stem cell mutagenesis and extrinsic factors that enhance the proliferation of progenitor cell populations across multiple organs ultimately determines organ cancer risk. ^{[12] [13]}

In 2000, Gilbertson joined the St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. ^[14] There, he became the founding director of the Molecular Clinical Trials Core and the co-leader of the Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program. ^[15] In 2011, he was named executive vice president of St. Jude and director of its Comprehensive Cancer Centre. ^{[5] [16] [17]} In 2014 he was also appointed Scientific Director of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

In 2015, he returned to the UK as the Li Ka Shing Chair of Oncology and was made a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, serving as head of the Department of Oncology, senior group leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and Director of the CRUK Cambridge Major Centre. ^{[6] [18]} In 2025, he was elected the 44th Master of Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge.

He was elected fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2017; ^[19] fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences in 2017; ^[20] and fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS) in 2022. ^[21] His certificate for election to fellow of the Royal Society reads: ^[22]

Richard has pioneered the field of cross-species genomics, deploying data generated from patients to identify the lineage origins of childhood brain tumours; build accurate models of these cancers; and design new treatments. He has also generated organism-wide maps of cancer risk across all organs and ages, helping to understand the relative contributions of cell lineage, gene mutation and tissue damage to tumourigenesis.

Awards and honours

• International Society of Pediatric Oncology Schweisguth Prize, 1998 ^[23]
• Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health SPARKS Young Investigator of the Year, 2000 ^[24]
• British Paediatric Neurology Association Ronnie McKeith Prize, 2002 ^[25]
• Brain Tumor Society Sydney Schlobohm Leadership Chair of Research, 2006 ^{[26] [27]}
• Malia's Cord Foundation Harold C. Schott Research Chair, 2008 ^[28]
• American Association of Neurological Surgeons Hunt-Wilson Lectureship, 2011 ^[29]
• Elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2013 ^[30]
• Member, Faculty of 1000 ^{[ citation needed ]}
• Elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, 2017 ^[19]
• Elected Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences 2017^{[ citation needed ]}
• Elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians 2020^{[ citation needed ]}
• Elected Fellow of the Royal Society 2022 ^[22]
• Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize, 2022 ^[31]
• Elected Fellow of EMBO, 2022^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. "Professor Gilbertson installed as Master | Gonville & Caius". www.cai.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
2. "Gilbertson Group". Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. Archived from the original on 28 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
3. "Man on a mission to beat cancer". University of Cambridge. 14 November 2016. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
4. "Richard J. Gilbertson". www.sontagfoundation.org. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
5. "A Conversation with Richard J. Gilbertson, MD, PhD". The ASCO Post. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
6. "Professor Richard Gilbertson". St John's College. Archived from the original on 21 July 2025 – via Internet Archive.
7. Richard Gilbertson publications indexed by Google Scholar
8. Gajjar, Amar; Pfister, Stefan M.; Taylor, Michael D.; Gilbertson, Richard J. (15 November 2014). "Molecular insights into pediatric brain tumors have the potential to transform therapy". Clinical Cancer Research. 20 (22): 5630–5640. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-14-0833. ISSN   1078-0432. PMC   4234174 . PMID   25398846.
9. "Expert Opinion – Professor Richard Gilbertson talks children's cancers". Cancer Research UK - Science blog. 26 November 2015. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
10. Gibson, P (2010). "Subtypes of medulloblastoma have distinct developmental origins". Nature. 468 (7327): 1095–1099. doi:10.1038/nature09587. PMC   3059767 . PMID   21150899.
11. Parker, M (2014). "C11orf95-RELA fusions drive oncogenic NF-kappaB signalling in ependymoma". Nature. 506 (7489): 451–455. doi:10.1038/nature13109. PMC   4050669 . PMID   24553141.
12. Zhu, Liqin; Finkelstein, David; Gao, Culian; Shi, Lei; Wang, Yongdong; López-Terrada, Dolores; Wang, Kasper; Utley, Sarah; Pounds, Stanley (25 August 2016). "Multi-organ Mapping of Cancer Risk". Cell. 166 (5): 1132–1146.e7. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2016.07.045. ISSN   0092-8674. PMC   5067024 . PMID   27565343.
13. "Cancer: 'Perfect storm' of cancer risk". Nature. 537 (7619): 140. 7 September 2016. Bibcode:2016Natur.537S.140.. doi: 10.1038/537140c . ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   27604915.
14. "St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientific director announces resignation". www.stjude.org. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
15. "Professor Richard Gilbertson". Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
16. Bartlett, James. "British Cancer Researcher on Why He Moved to the U.S." BBC America. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
17. "Coming home to the UK: an interview with Richard Gilbertson". Cancer Research UK. 20 July 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
18. "Professor Richard Gilbertson appointed Head of Department - Department of Oncology". Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
19. "Professor Richard Gilbertson". The Academy of Medical Sciences. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
20. "Fellows | European Academy of Cancer Sciences". www.europeancanceracademy.eu. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
21. "Outstanding scientists elected as Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
22. "Richard Gilbertson". The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 11 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
23. "Previous Schweisguth Prize Winners". Société Internationale d’Oncologie Pédiatrique. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
24. "Dr Simon Newell Early Career Investigator of the Year (Sparks) award". RCPCH. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
25. "British Paediatric Neurology Association". bpna.org.uk. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
26. Gutmann, David H.; Gilbertson, Richard J. (15 June 2007). "Tumorigenesis in the Brain: Location, Location, Location". Cancer Research. 67 (12): 5579–5582. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-0760 . ISSN   0008-5472. PMID   17575119. Archived from the original on 2 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
27. "Honors & awards". www.stjude.org. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
28. "ALSF CORD Fund History". Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer. 7 March 2019. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
29. "AANS Programme Guide 2011" Archived 2022-05-31 at the Wayback Machine American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
30. "The American Society for Clinical Investigation". Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
31. "Richard Gilbertson Named 2022 Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize Recipient for Contributions in Pediatric Oncology | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center". www.mskcc.org. Retrieved 13 June 2022.