Channing J. Der, PhD, is Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Der received his PhD from the University of California, Irvine and completed his postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Since his initial discovery of RAS oncogenes in human cancer in 1982, his research has centered on the study of RAS and RHO oncoproteins and the ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling network in cancer.
Dr. Der was a member of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) RAS Working Group, and he served on the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Lustgarten Foundation. He also serves on the scientific advisory board of numerous biotech companies developing KRAS inhibitors. His honors include Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the recipient of an NCI Outstanding Investigator Award, the Battle Distinguished Cancer Research Award, the Mentorship Award for Lifetime Achievement, the University of California, Irvine Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the Einstein Berlin Institute of Health Visiting Fellow Award. He is the Director of the NCI T32 predoctoral Cancer Cell Biology Program and was the Director of the NCI T32 Integrated Training in Cancer Model Systems postdoctoral training grant. He has an extensive history of training, with the mentorship of 58 postdoctoral and 36 predoctoral fellows.