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]
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]
From 2018 Pestell also served as the Dean of a New Medical School to ensure its regulatory compliance and accreditations.[14]
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.[15] In January 2019, Pestell was named Vice Chairman of the Board of the CytoDyn, Inc., which acquired his prior company, ProstaGene, in November 2018.[16][17] As the Chief Medical Officer, he established the company's cancer clinical trial for the use of a CCR5 inhibitor (leronlimab)[18] and FDA fast track designation in May 2019.[19] He exited CytoDyn in July 2019 and is currently member of the Wistar Institute Cancer Center Philadelphia and Blumberg Distinguished Professor.[20]
Pestell received the Eric Susman Prize for medical research in 2015.[21] 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.
There are more than 109,000 citations to Pestell's work.[22] He has an H-index of 161 and an i10 index 490.[23][24]
Pestell's research has included contributions to understanding of cancer onset and progression including breast and prostate cancer.[25]
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.[26][27]
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.[28]
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.[29] This work helped inform clinical trials of CCR5-targeting agents such as leronlimab in oncology contexts.[30] 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. [31]He served on editorial boards and as a reviewer across many journals and funding bodies globally.[16][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.[32]
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[33] and awarded the Order of Australia for his services to medicine and education.
He founded LightSeed LLC, which develops light-activated gene control technologies for targeted cancer treatment[35], and EcoGenome LLC, which designs genomic-based diagnostics to identify tumor-specific vulnerabilities. [36]
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.[37]
In addition, he founded Shenandoah Pharmaceuticals LLC and ioROC LLC, both contributing to the development of novel cancer therapeutics and diagnostic systems.[38]
Pestell is married to Anna Pestell and has three children.[39] He is the great-grandson of Albert Green, Minister for Defence under the Scullin Government.[53] son of George Pestell and related to other assorted ancestors.[54][55]
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