David Baltimore

David Baltimore was the Judge Shirley Hufstedler Professor of Biology and President Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering. He earned a B.A. with high honors in Chemistry from Swarthmore College in 1960 and a Ph.D. from Rockefeller University in 1964 under Richard Franklin. His postdoctoral training included positions at MIT with James Darnell and at Albert Einstein College of Medicine with Jerard Hurwitz, focusing on animal virology and nucleic acid enzymology. Baltimore began his independent career as a Research Associate at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies from 1965 to 1968, working alongside Renato Dulbecco. He then joined MIT as Associate Professor of Microbiology in 1968, advancing to Professor of Biology in 1972 and American Cancer Society Professor of Microbiology. In 1982, he founded and directed the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He served as President of Rockefeller University from 1990 to 1991 before becoming Caltech's seventh president from 1997 to 2006, where he led a major biological sciences initiative, including the construction of the Broad Center for the Biological Sciences and a $1.4 billion capital campaign.

Baltimore's seminal discovery of reverse transcriptase in RNA tumor viruses, published as 'RNA-dependent DNA Polymerase in Virions of RNA Tumour Viruses' in Nature (1970), demonstrated that genetic information could flow from RNA to DNA, revolutionizing molecular biology and facilitating HIV identification. This earned him the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with Renato Dulbecco and Howard Temin. Subsequent research identified NF-κB, a transcription factor regulating inflammation, immunity, and linked to cancer; RAG proteins generating antibody diversity; and the tyrosine kinase oncoprotein of Abelson leukemia virus, contributing to the development of Gleevec. At Caltech, his laboratory explored signal transduction, transcriptional regulation, cell cycle controls, and viral vectors for gene therapy against cancer, HIV, and influenza. Honors include the National Medal of Science (1999), Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science (2021), National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology (1974), Warren Alpert Foundation Prize (2000), Eli Lilly Award in Microbiology and Immunology (1971), and Gustav Stern Award in Virology (1970). He shaped policies on recombinant DNA, HIV/AIDS response, and CRISPR gene editing.

Professional Email: baltimo@caltech.edu