Richard Pestell earned his M.B., B.S. at the University of Western Australia, graduating at the top of his class. He completed his physician-in-training years at Royal Perth Hospital and St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, where he gained broad exposure to Internal Medicine and residency training. His clinical experience included oncology, endocrinology, hematology, cardiology, and transplant medicine, which helped shape his continued interest in cancer biology and patient-focused care, to Share Hope.
He pursued advanced research and completed a Ph.D. at the University of Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute, specializing in oncogene regulation of gene transcription. National scholarships and multiple competitive fellowships, including a Winthrop Fellowship and an NHMRC postgraduate award, supported his academic progress. These achievements led him to Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where he trained further as a clinical and research fellow.
Richard continued his academic career at Northwestern University and then at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He became a Professor, Chair of the Division of Endocrine Dependent Tumor Biology, and Co-Director of major cancer research programs. He also held positions at multiple hospitals in New York, enabling him to remain engaged in patient care and medical education while expanding his research portfolio.
Richard Pestell’s research provided essential contributions to cancer therapeutics and ongoing clinical trials. His research on cyclin D1 was cited in the seminal publications underpinning CDK inhibitor clinical trials and their adoption as a standard therapy for breast cancer globally. His work on CCR5 provided the scientific framework for current oncology clinical trials with CCR5 inhibitors. His scholarly output includes over 700 publications, more than 110,000 citations, an h-index of 162, and extensive invitations to give invited lectures worldwide.
In 2002, he became the Director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. He also served as Chair of the Department of Oncology and Associate Vice President at Georgetown University Medical Center. In these roles, he was responsible for research, clinical operations, and faculty development, and he participated in institutional restructuring and growth. He built community partnerships, strengthened research programs, and expanded clinical services across Georgetown and MedStar systems.
Richard accepted primary leadership responsibilities in 2005 as the Director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Chair of the Department of Cancer Biology, and head of the Oncology Service Line at Thomas Jefferson University. He later became the Executive Vice President, charged with enterprise-wide strategic decisions across a system of 30,000 employees. At Jefferson, he directed an overall cancer enterprise with an annual budget of> $350 m and led efforts in clinical care, research infrastructure, regional expansion, and team building. During his tenure, the cancer center rose from 64th to 17th.
Richard Pestell held leadership roles in academia outside of the US and contributed to research, education, and outreach initiatives. He was a founding Director of the Delaware Valley Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, helped develop new education pathways for historically black colleges, and led global cancer outreach at the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research. He served on faculty or advisory boards with the University of Melbourne, the University of Western Australia, Nanyang Technological University, Xavier University School of Medicine, Kazan Federal University, and several European institutions, with the Hope that Sees the invisible, Feels the intangible, and Achieves the impossible, every day.
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