Expert for Media Profile
Cancer, Basic Science
Julio A. Aguirre-Ghiso, Ph.D.
- Professor, Department of Cell Biology
- Professor, Department of Oncology (Medical Oncology)
- Professor, Department of Medicine (Oncology & Hematology)
- Rose C. Falkenstein Chair in Cancer Research
- Director, Institute for Cancer Dormancy and Tumor Microenvironment
- Co-Leader, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, Tumor Microenvironment & Metastasis Program
Area of Expertise
View Faculty ProfileExpert Summary
Julio Aguirre-Ghiso, Ph.D., is an international leader in cancer cell dormancy and metastasis. He has helped lead a major shift in the cancer biology field by investigating how cancer cells hibernate, undetected, for long periods of time and what causes them to suddenly awaken to seed deadly, treatment-resistant metastases.
Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso’s work is revealing ways to maintain residual cancer-cell dormancy, kill dormant cancer cells, and identify biomarkers for cancer recurrence. He has founded a start-up company, HiberCell, which is developing treatments to prevent relapse.
Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso is founding director of the Cancer Dormancy and Tumor Microenvironment Institute at the Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center. The goal of the institute is to integrate research from a range of specialties—including the biology of aging, stem cells, epigenetics, and systems biology—to address how residual cancer cells, aging, lifestyle, genetics, and treatments influence relapse across all cancers.
Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso is a reviewer for top-tier scientific journals and for federal, private, and international agencies. His work has been published in Nature, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Cancer, Science, and Cancer Cell. He is also president of the Metastasis Research Society and has served at several leadership levels at American Association for Cancer Research.