Steven R. Patierno, PhD serves as Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology and Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at the Duke University School Medicine, and as Deputy Director of the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI), one of the original eight NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Connecticut, a PhD in molecular pharmacology from the Graduate School of Biomedical Science, University of Texas Health Science Center-MD Anderson Cancer Institute in Houston Texas, and conducted an NIH-awarded postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in molecular oncology and carcinogenesis. He was the Vivian Gill Distinguished Professor of Oncology, and Professor of Pharmacology, Physiology and Urology at the GWU School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and served as Executive Director of The George Washington University Cancer Center for ten years prior to moving to Duke in 2012. Dr. Patierno’s basic science and translational research laboratory has been funded continuously by the NIH, NCI, Department of Defense and multiple foundations for over 25 years. He is internationally recognized for research on molecular carcinogenesis, molecular pharmacology and oncology, the genomics of cancer disparities and healthcare delivery research on patient navigation and evidence-based policy. Currently, his laboratory is focused on the molecular biology of cancer disparities including the development of biomarkers for high risk cancer and identification and development of novel molecularly targeted therapeutics. He serves on many national committees for AACR, AACI, and ASCO, and as chair of numerous scientific and medical advisory boards. He co-chaired the 2007, and keynoted the 2018 AACR-NCI Think Tanks on Cancer Disparities and help found the AACR Science of Cancer Disparities Annual Conference. Dr. Patierno received a Prostate Cancer Foundation 2018 Challenge Award, the AACR 2019 Distinguished Cancer Disparities Research Award, and has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Institute. He has also been recognized by Duke University for his extensive work in Diversity and Inclusion and by numerous organizations for impactful community engagement.