William G. Nelson, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Nelson is the Marion I. Knott Professor of Oncology and Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. He is also a Professor of Urology, Pharmacology, Medicine, Pathology, and Radiation Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, with a Joint Appointment in Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. Nelson completed his M.D. and Ph.D. training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, earning honors for both research and clinical excellence, and then pursued Internal Medicine residency training and Medical Oncology fellowship training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, earning American Board of Internal Medicine certification in both disciplines. In addition to his administrative duties as Cancer Center Director, he directs a research laboratory focused on discovering new strategies for prostate cancer treatment and prevention. The laboratory has discovered the most common acquired genome change in cancer cells, a finding that has led to new approaches to prostate cancer detection, diagnosis, screening, and prevention.
Outside of Johns Hopkins, Dr. Nelson has become a recognized leader in translational cancer research. He was one of three Co-Chairs of the National Cancer-Institute Translational Research Working Group, which reported its findings to the National Cancer Advisory Board in June of 2007. A member of the American Association for Cancer Research, he has served as a member of the Board of Directors, the Clinical Research Committee, the Public Education Committee, the Special Conferences Committee, and the Science Policy and Legislative Affairs Committee. Dr. Nelson has also served as the President of the National Coalition for Cancer Research, on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and of Stand Up 2 Cancer, on External Advisory Boards of six NCI-designated Cancer Centers, and on the Scientific Advisory Boards of several companies focused on the development of new technologies and treatments for human cancer. He is a Senior Editor of Cancer Research and an Associate Editor of Clinical Cancer Research and Cancer Prevention Research.
