Gene Cure Fund Director

Richard L. Eckert, PhD,
John F.B. Weaver Endowed Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Dr. Eckert received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, and PhD from the University of Illinois, Urbana. He completed post-doctoral training in the Department of Cell Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Harvard Medical School.

                                                                                               (Message from Dr. Eckert)

He joined the faculty of Case Reserve University School of Medicine in 1986 as an assistant professor of physiology and biophysics, dermatology, reproductive biology, oncology and biochemistry. He was promoted as tenured associate professor in 1992 and professor in 1996. Dr. Eckert joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine as Professor and Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in November of 2006.

Dr. Eckert’s research focuses on understanding how normal surface epithelial cells function to protect people from illnesses and how those cells are altered during disease states, including skin cancer. Specific interests include mechanisms that regulate cell survival, differentiation and transformation, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that regulate gene expression during differentiation, the use of epidermis-derived somatic stem cells for therapy, and the role of nutritional agents in cancer prevention. He has published more than 160 journal articles and reviews, and his trainees have presented over 130 meeting abstracts. He serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for scientific journals including the Journal of Biological Chemistry and the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. He is a University of Wisconsin Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award recipient, an elected member of the Board of the Society for Investigative Dermatology, a standing member of the review panel of the American Institute for Cancer Research, and has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the NIAMS and on numerous NIH study sections.

Dr. Eckert holds two patents from the United States Patent Office, and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health as a principal investigator since 1989. He is currently principal investigator on four RO1 grants from the National Institutes of Health and a grant from American Institute for Cancer Research. He has also been supported by the Department of the Navy, the American Cancer Society, the Dermatology Foundation, and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program Breast Cancer Research Program.

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