Richard Pestell

Last updated
Richard G. Pestell
Dr. Richard Pestell - 2022.png
Born
Citizenship United States, Australia
Alma mater New York University
University of Melbourne
University of Western Australia
SpouseAnna Pestell
Children3
Awards
Scientific career
Fields Oncology, Endocrinology
InstitutionsHarvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital
Baruch S. Blumberg Institute
Thomas Jefferson University
Georgetown University Medical Center
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Richard G. Pestell is an Australian American oncologist, endocrinologist and research scientist. [1] Pestell was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to medicine and medical education in 2019 by Queen Elizabeth II. [2] He was previously Executive Vice President of Thomas Jefferson University and Director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center of Thomas Jefferson University. He founded six biotechnology companies developing cancer therapy and diagnostics. [3] He is currently Distinguished Professor, Translational Medical Research, and the President of the Pennsylvania Cancer and Regenerative Medicine Research Center at the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute. [4]

Contents

Education and career

A native of Perth, Western Australia, Pestell attended Christ Church Grammar School. He attended the University of Western Australia School of Medicine, receiving his M.B.B.S. [5] He conducted clinical training in internal medicine, oncology and endocrinology. He was awarded the Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (FRACP) in 1989. [6] He received a Ph.D., under the supervision of Professor Richard Larkins and Professor John Coghlan, in 1991 and M.D. in 1997 from the University of Melbourne. He was the recipient of both the Neal Hamilton Fairley Fellowship, and the Winthrop Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Physicians. [6] He became a postdoctoral clinical and research fellow with Dr. J. Larry Jameson in medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a postdoctoral research fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1991. [7]

Pestell was recruited as an Assistant Professor to the Department of Molecular Medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. He became an Associate Professor and Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Developmental and Molecular Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Pestell served as Chair of the Division of Endocrine-Dependent Tumor Biology at the then Albert Einstein Cancer Center. [8] [9]

In 2002, Pestell was named Director of the Lombardi Cancer Center, the Francis L. and Charlotte Gragnani Endowed Chair, and Chairman of the Department of Oncology at the Georgetown University Medical Center. [10] During this tenure, he also served as Associate Vice President of the Georgetown University Medical Center, at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Pestell led the effort for renewal of the National Cancer Institute designation, and supported Dr. Mandelblatt in founding the Capital Breast Care Center with Andrea Jung of the Avon Foundation. [11] In 2003, he was also named President of the US branch of the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research. [12] [13]

Since 2017, Pestell has served as President, Pennsylvania Cancer Center and Regenerative Medicine Center, and Blumberg Distinguished Professor, Translational Medical Research, Baruch S Blumberg Institute. In January 2019, Pestell was named Vice Chairman of the Board of the CytoDyn, Inc., which acquired his prior company, ProstaGene, in November 2018. [14] [15] As the Chief Medical Officer, he established the company's cancer clinical trial for the use of a CCR5 inhibitor (leronlimab) [16] and FDA fast track designation in May 2019. [17] He exited CytoDyn in July 2019 and is currently member of the Wistar Institute Cancer Center Philadelphia and Blumberg Distinguished Professor. [18]

Pestell received the Eric Susman Prize for medical research in 2015. [19] Pestell was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to medicine and medical education in 2019 by Queen Elizabeth II, for “distinguished service to medicine, and to medical education, as a researcher and physician in the fields of endocrinology and oncology”. [2]

Research

Pestell with Laura Bush, Andrea Jung, and Kathleen Walas of Avon Products, Inc. Jung,Bush,Pestell,Walas.jpg
Pestell with Laura Bush, Andrea Jung, and Kathleen Walas of Avon Products, Inc.

There are more than 109,000 citations to Pestell's work. [20] He has an H-index of 161 and an i10 index 490. [21] [22]

Pestell's research has included contributions to understanding of cancer onset and progression including breast and prostate cancer. [23]

Cyclin D1 and nuclear receptor biology

Pestell’s laboratory showed that nuclear receptors (e.g. estrogen, androgen, PPARγ) can be acetylated, a modification that influences their transcriptional activity and growth control—introducing a new regulatory mechanism in hormone signaling. [24] [25]

Cancer stem cell regulation

He has identified key genes and pathways (e.g. p21^Cip1, c-Jun, NF-κB, DACH1, CCR5) that govern cancer stem cell expansion in breast cancer, and studied how dysregulation of these contributes to metastasis. [26]

CCR5 in cancer metastasis

Pestell’s group provided evidence that CCR5 (a chemokine receptor) plays a role in metastasis in breast and prostate cancer, proposing CCR5 inhibitors as potential therapeutic agents. [27] This work helped inform clinical trials of CCR5-targeting agents such as leronlimab in oncology contexts. [28] Beyond discovery science, Pestell has co-founded multiple biotechnology ventures (e.g. LightSeed, ProstaGene, Shenandoah, ioROC, StromaGenesis, EcoGenome) aimed at translating molecular insights into diagnostics and treatments. [29] He served on editorial boards and as a reviewer across many journals and funding bodies globally. [14] [11]

CytoDyn / Leronlimab research

In 2025, Pestell delivered poster and oral presentations at the AACR Special Conference on Cancer Immunity, reporting results on leronlimab’s potential to convert immunologically “cold” tumors to “hot” ones, in the context of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and checkpoint inhibitor responsiveness. [30]

Institutions and honors

Under Pestell’s leadership, the Pennsylvania Cancer and Regenerative Medicine Center aims to integrate cancer biology, regenerative medicine, and translational innovation. In 2019, he was conferred Doctor of Medical Science (honoris causa) by the University of Melbourne [31] and awarded the Order of Australia for his services to medicine and education.

Professional career

In addition to his academic career, Pestell has founded six biotechnology companies focused on cancer therapy and diagnostics. [32]

He founded LightSeed LLC, which develops light-activated gene control technologies for targeted cancer treatment [33] , and EcoGenome LLC, which designs genomic-based diagnostics to identify tumor-specific vulnerabilities. [34]

Pestell also established StromaGenesis, a company developing therapeutics targeting the tumor microenvironment, and ProstaGene, which specialized in prostate cancer diagnostics and treatment. ProstaGene was acquired by CytoDyn in 2018. [35]

In addition, he founded Shenandoah Pharmaceuticals LLC and ioROC LLC, both contributing to the development of novel cancer therapeutics and diagnostic systems. [36]

Awards and honors

Personal life

Pestell is married to Anna Pestell and has three children. [37] He is the great-grandson of Albert Green, Minister for Defence under the Scullin Government. [52] son of George Pestell and related to other assorted ancestors. [53] [54]

Selected publications

References

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  5. "UWA alumni named Australia's most innovative global leaders". News | The University Of Western Australia. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
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  15. "CytoDyn Completes Acquisition of ProstaGene and Names Dr. Richard G. Pestell to Board of Directors".
  16. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/11/05/1644858/19782/en/CytoDyn-Files-IND-and-Protocol-for-Phase-1b-2-Clinical-Trial-in-Metastatic-Triple-Negative-Breast-Cancer-with-PRO-140-Leronlimab.html) Archived 2021-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
  17. "FDA Grants CytoDyn Fast Track Designation for Leronlimab (PRO 140) in metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, an Unmet Medical Need" (Press release). 7 May 2019.
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  26. Liu, Manran; Casimiro, Mathew C.; Wang, Chenguang; Shirley, L. Andrew; Jiao, Xuanmao; Katiyar, Sanjay; Ju, Xiaoming; Li, Zhiping; Yu, Zuoren (2009-11-10). "p21CIP1 attenuates Ras- and c-Myc-dependent breast tumor epithelial mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cell-like gene expression in vivo". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 106 (45): 19035–19039. Bibcode:2009PNAS..10619035L. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0910009106 . ISSN   1091-6490. PMC   2776463 . PMID   19858489.
  27. Jiao, Xuanmao; Velasco-Velázquez, Marco A.; Wang, Min; Li, Zhiping; Rui, Hallgeir; Peck, Amy R.; Korkola, James E.; Chen, Xuelian; Xu, Shaohua (2018-04-01). "CCR5 Governs DNA Damage Repair and Breast Cancer Stem Cell Expansion". Cancer Research. 78 (7): 1657–1671. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-17-0915. ISSN   1538-7445. PMC   6331183 . PMID   29358169.
  28. Velasco-Velázquez, Marco; Jiao, Xuanmao; De La Fuente, Marisol; Pestell, Timothy G.; Ertel, Adam; Lisanti, Michael P.; Pestell, Richard G. (2012-08-01). "CCR5 antagonist blocks metastasis of basal breast cancer cells". Cancer Research. 72 (15): 3839–3850. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-11-3917 . ISSN   1538-7445. PMID   22637726.
  29. Sicoli, Daniela; Jiao, Xuanmao; Ju, Xiaoming; Velasco-Velazquez, Marco; Ertel, Adam; Addya, Sankar; Li, Zhiping; Andò, Sebastiano; Fatatis, Alessandro (2014-12-01). "CCR5 receptor antagonists block metastasis to bone of v-Src oncogene-transformed metastatic prostate cancer cell lines". Cancer Research. 74 (23): 7103–7114. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-0612. ISSN   1538-7445. PMC   4294544 . PMID   25452256.
  30. Read, 3 Min (2025-09-17). "CytoDyn to Present at the AACR Special Conference: Mechanisms of Cancer Immunity and Cancer-related Autoimmunity". BioSpace. Retrieved 2025-10-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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  34. Ecogenome. "Ecogenome". Ecogenome. Retrieved 2025-10-06.
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  39. Mark D'Amico; Kongming Wu; Maofu Fu; Mahadev Rao; Chris Albanese; Robert G. Russell; Hanzhou Lian; David Bregman; Michael White (June 15, 2004). "The Inhibitor of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4a/Alternative Reading Frame (INK4a/ARF) Locus Encoded Proteins p16INK4a and p19ARF Repress Cyclin D1 Transcription through Distinct cis Elements". Cancer Research. 64 (12): 4122–4130. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-03-2519 . PMID   15205322.
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