New Faculty Member Alan Hall

Memorial Sloan-Kettering has announced that English biologist Alan Hall will become the new Chairman of the Cell Biology Program within the Sloan-Kettering Institute. Dr. Hall is responsible for uncovering much of what is known about several key proteins that control the pathways regulating cell motility and shape, as well as how cells' internal structures (cytoskeletons) are organized.

"Alan Hall is widely recognized as one of the best cell biologists in the world," said Sloan-Kettering Institute Director Thomas J. Kelly. "His work opened an entirely new field of cell biology, and he continues to lead in that field. I expect that he will be an exceptional Chairman for Sloan-Kettering Institute's Cell Biology Program and a wonderful addition to our academic community."

Dr. Hall's research has focused on a family of proteins called GTPases. These proteins act as molecular switches in signal transduction pathways and play key roles in determining the behavior of cells, including how they rearrange their cytoskeletons in response to external stimuli. This work has important implications for understanding how tumor cells become metastatic and spread throughout the body.

"The staff and infrastructure make Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center a phenomenal place to do research," said Dr. Hall. "Cancer is primarily a disease of cells, and so my aim as a new Program Chair is to recruit talented young scientists and build on Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's already strong reputation for doing outstanding cell biology."

Dr. Hall comes to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center from the UK Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology at University College London, where he was a professor and Director of the Cell Biology Unit. He earned his PhD degree in chemistry from Harvard University and did postdoctoral research in the Department of Molecular Biology at Edinburgh University in Scotland and the Institute for Molecular Biology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. He succeeds Joan Massagué, who became Interim Chairman of Cell Biology in late 2003 when he was named Chairman of Sloan-Kettering Institute's newly formed Cancer Biology and Genetics Program.

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