Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Ph.D.
Genentech
Marc Tessier-Lavigne is Executive Vice President, Research, and Chief Scientific Officer at Genentech, where he oversees all therapeutic area research. He and his colleagues pioneered the identification of molecules that direct the formation of connections among nerve cells to establish circuits in the brain and spinal cord during embryonic development. These mechanisms provide tools to assist regeneration of nerve connections following trauma or injury, including stroke and paralyzing injuries to the spinal cord.
Tessier-Lavigne was born in Trenton, Canada. He received a B.Sc. in physics from McGill University and a B.A. in philosophy and physiology from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He obtained his Ph.D. in physiology from University College London and performed postdoctoral work at the MRC Developmental Neurobiology Unit in London and at Columbia University. From 1991 to 2001 he was on the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, and from 2001-2003 he was the Susan B. Ford Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. From 1994 to 2003 he was also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
In 2003, Tessier-Lavigne moved to Genentech, where he now oversees some 1,300 people in disease research and drug discovery in cancer, immune disorders, infectious disease, neurology, and tissue growth and repair, while maintaining an active research lab. He also co-chairs the Early Stage Portfolio Committee, which oversees the development of all medicines from the early development stage to proof of concept in Phase II clinical trials.
Tessier-Lavigne serves on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals, including the board of reviewing editors of Science magazine. He is recipient or co-recipient of numerous awards, including the Ameritec Prize for contributions toward a cure for paralysis, the Fondation Ibsen Prize in Neuronal Plasticity, the Viktor Hamburger Award of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience, the Wakeman Award for regeneration research, the Robert Dow Neuroscience Award, and the Reeve-Irvine Research Medal.
Tessier-Lavigne has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), a Fellow of the Royal Society (UK), a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.