Dr. Andrew Simpson was appointed LICR’s Executive Director for Programs & Operations of the global Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) in 2004, and Scientific Director in 2007. As a research scientist, he worked previously at the LICR São Paulo Branch in São Paulo, Brazil, the Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the National Institute for Medical Research in London (receiving tenure in 1986) and the USA National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.
Dr. Simpson’s research focus at LICR in Brazil was the development of large-scale genomics projects. He led a network of laboratories in the São Paulo State, which sequenced the first complete genome of a bacterial phytopathogen, and a national program, which sequenced the genome of a bacteria found in the Amazon. The sequencing network he conceived and organized has been acclaimed by the World Health Organization as a model for genomics research in developing countries. Dr. Simpson also led the Human Cancer Project, collaboration between LICR and São Paulo State, which generated one of the largest contributions of expressed transcript sequences to public databases. These data later became crucial for the annotation of the human genome.
For his contributions to Brazil’s science, Dr. Simpson was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and awarded the country’s highest civilian order, the ‘Order Rio Branco’. Dr. Simpson is now combining his expertise in genomics, immunology and programmatic science to coordinate and facilitate LICR’s global, multidisciplinary Programs with the goal of fulfilling the Institute’s mission to understand and control human cancer.
Link to LICR (http://www.ludwigcancerresearch.org/)
01/jun/2016