Robert Horvitz

Professor Robert Horvitz ForMemRS

Foreign Member

Elected: 2009

Contact:

wwwhttp://web.mit.edu/horvitz/www/index.html

Biography

H. Robert Horvitz received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002. He is the David H. Koch Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Neurobiologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital; and a Member of the MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

Robert received S. B. degrees in mathematics and economics from MIT. He performed his PhD studies at Harvard University with James Watson and Walter Gilbert. Robert was a postdoctoral fellow with Sydney Brenner at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, United Kingdom. He joined the faculty of the Department of Biology at MIT in 1978 and became Professor in 1986.

He is a former President of the Genetics Society of America. Robert has served on many editorial boards, visiting committees and advisory committees and has received numerous awards and honours. He has been a consultant to companies in the field of biomedicine.

Professional positions

Member, David H Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Council, Institute of Medicine
Scientific Advisory Board, Novartis Institutes For BioMedical Research (Cambridge), Novartis International AG
Chair, Medical & Scientific Advisory Board, MPM Capital
Executive Committee, Coalition for the Life Sciences
Board Observer, PureTech Ventures
Chair, Board of Trustees, Society for Science and the Public
Consultant, Epizyme
Board Observer, KEW Group
Neurobiologist, Massachusetts General Hospital
Member, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nominations Committee Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Scientific Advisory Board, Mitokyne

Interest and expertise

Subject groups

Biochemistry and molecular cell biology
- Biochemistry and molecular biology
Anatomy, physiology and neurosciences
- Development and control of behaviour, Cellular neuroscience

Keywords

Caenorhabditis elegans, Genetics, Neuroscience, Developmental biology, Neurodegenerative diseases, Basic cancer research

Awards

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Jointly with Sydney Brenner and John E. Sulston for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death.