William T. Beck, Ph.D.
Professor and Head
Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago IL
William Beck has over 30 years in academic biomedical research and administration, much experience on federal advisory boards, and has held leadership positions in national organizations. He received the PhD in Pharmacology from The George Washington University in 1971. After a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Yale Medical School and two years on the faculty of the University of Southern California, he joined the faculty of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, in 1976. In 1996 he moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) as Professor and Director of the Cancer Center. In 1999, he became Head, Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences at UIC, where he is also Professor of Pharmacology, Molecular Genetics, and Bioengineering, and Leader of the UIC Cancer Center’s Program in Cancer Targets, Therapeutics and Imaging. He was named UIC University Scholar, 2003 – 2006, and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007.
Dr. Beck has been funded continuously for his work by grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as well as the Department of Defense (DOD). His research has focused on molecular mechanisms of anticancer drug resistance, with a current emphasis developing novel therapeutic targets in ovarian and breast cancers. More recently, with work started in the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG), Dr. Beck and his colleagues identified two proteins, called splicing factors, that are overexpressed in the majority of ovarian cancers compared to normal ovarian tissue, and whose inhibition blocks the growth of these cancers in vitro and in mice bearing tumors. One of his grants from the NCI is focused on developing drugs to inhibit these proteins.
In addition to the V Foundation, Dr. Beck serves and has served on scientific advisory boards for several cancer centers and national and local organizations. He is Co-Chair of the Committee on Experimental Medicine of the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) and directed the GOG Core Laboratory in Molecular Pharmacology at UIC. He has served as a member of many NIH, DOD and foreign grant review panels and editorial advisory boards of scientific journals. Dr. Beck is a member several professional organizations, including the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). He has served on many committees for the AACR, was National Coordinator for the AACR’s State Legislative Committees and is a former member of the AACR’s Board of Directors.
