DURHAM, N.C. -- Michael B. Kastan, M.D., Ph.D., executive director of the Duke Cancer Institute, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, an advisory organization to the president and Congress composed of experts in all scientific fields.

Kastan is one of 84 new members, who are elected by their peers in recognition of outstanding contributions to research. 

“It is truly an honor to be counted among the members of the Academy, including many from Duke who have come before me,” Kastan said. “But, it needs to be clear that the real recipients of this honor are all of the wonderful colleagues and trainees with whom I have been associated over the years.”

Kastan’s research spans more than three decades and includes several focus areas, including cellular responses to DNA damage and their impact on cell viability and cancer formation. He has led the Duke Cancer Institute since 2011 and is also the the William and Jane Shingleton Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology and Professor of Pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine.

Prior to joining Duke, Kastan was director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. During his tenure there, the facility became the only pediatric hospital designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar. He then graduated from Washington University School of Medicine and trained in pediatrics at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Kastan is the recipient of numerous honors, including elections to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. He was also elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014.