Matthew Scott is Professor of Developmental Biology, Emeritus in the School of Medicine at Stanford University, where he has advanced the field of Biology since joining in 1990. He earned a B.S. in Biology from MIT in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Biology in 1980, advised by Prof. Mary Lou Pardue. After completing a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellowship at Indiana University from 1980 to 1983 with Profs. Thomas Kaufman and Barry Polisky, he established his independent laboratory at the University of Colorado, Boulder, progressing from Assistant to Associate Professor by 1990. At Stanford, Scott was appointed Professor in the Departments of Developmental Biology and Genetics. He held significant leadership positions, including Chair of the Department of Developmental Biology from 1996 to 1998, Associate Chair from 1999 to 2002, Chair of the Bio-X Program from 2001 to 2007, and Co-Chair of the Center for Children's Brain Tumors from 2005 onward. As an Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator from 1993 to 2010, he later served as President of the Carnegie Institution for Science from 2014 to 2017 and is now Emeritus President.

Scott's research has elucidated molecular mechanisms of embryonic development, gene regulation, cell-cell signaling, and brain circuitry, with emphasis on the Hedgehog signaling pathway, homeobox genes, basal cell carcinoma, medulloblastoma, and Niemann-Pick type C syndrome. His laboratory discovered the homeobox, an evolutionarily conserved sequence in developmental control genes, and established PTCH gene mutations as the basis for basal cell carcinoma—the most common human cancer—and medulloblastoma—the most prevalent childhood malignant brain tumor. Key publications include "Structural relationships among genes that control development: what genes are involved?" (PNAS, 1984, with A.J. Weiner), "The Drosophila patched gene encodes a putative membrane protein" (Cell, 1989, with J.E. Hooper), "Altered neural cell fates and medulloblastoma in mouse patched mutants" (Science, 1997, with L.V. Goodrich et al.), and contributions to Molecular Cell Biology (6th and 5th editions). He received the Passano Young Investigator Award (1990), Conklin Medal of the Society for Developmental Biology (2004), Pasarow Award in Cancer Research (2013), and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1999), National Academy of Medicine (2007), and American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996). Scott edited journals including Developmental Biology (1995-2001), Cell (associate, 1988-1995), and Development (2007-2009), shaping developmental biology discourse.

Professional Email: mscott@stanford.edu