John T. Schiller
National Institutes of Health
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Primary Section: 44, Microbial Biology Secondary Section: 41, Medical Genetics, Hematology, and Oncology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2020)
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Biosketch
Dr. Schiller was born in Madison, Wisconsin and resided there until he received his bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1975. He then moved to Seattle for graduate school, receiving his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Microbiology from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1978, and 1982, respectively. In 1983, he joined the National Cancer Institute intramural program in the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Lowy in Bethesda, MD as a postdoctoral fellow and has worked in close collaboration with Dr. Lowy on the NIH’s Bethesda campus ever since. He became a Senior Investigator in 1992 and is currently a NIH Distinguished Investigator and Section Chief in the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD. Dr. Schiller has received numerous awards including the 2014 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and the 2017 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, and election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2020.
Research Interests
In his 35 years at the NCI, Dr. Schiller has studied various aspects of papillomavirus molecular biology, immunology and epidemiology. The laboratory headed by Dr. Schiller and Dr. Lowy led in the discovery, characterization, and clinical testing of virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines to prevent the HPV infections that cause cervical and other cancers. They have facilitated technology transfer to potential HPV vaccine manufactures in developing countries and provided leadership in promoting global public health issues related to the implementation of HPV vaccination. Dr. Schiller’s current interests include basic studies of papillomavirus virion assembly and infection, the development of therapeutic HPV vaccines, and vaccines and molecular biological therapies for cancer and other chronic diseases. The central theme of Dr. Schiller’s research is to translate basic virologic insights into molecular medicine-based interventions that have worldwide applicability, even in low resource settings.
