J. Carl Barrett

Dr. J. Carl Barrett is vice-president of translational science in the Oncology Innovative Medicines Division at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. His responsibility is to develop and execute biomarker strategy and translational sciences efforts to support compound development from research through early and full development in oncology. Dr. Barrett’s longstanding research interests focus on the discovery of the critical genetic and epigenetic changes in the cancer cell, in particular, the discovery of genes involved in breast cancer (BRCA1) and in the processes of cellular senescence and cancer metastasis. He has made significant contributions to the identification of molecular defects in cancers and the role of the biosystem in the carcinogenesis process.

From 2005-2011, Dr. Barrett was the global head of Oncology Biomarkers and Imaging in Novartis Oncology Translational Medicine. Prior to joining Novartis, Dr. Barrett was the founding director of the NCI Center for Cancer Research (CCR), which is the NCI intramural center for translation medicine and novel technologies. Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Barrett was the scientific director at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences where his efforts focused on integrating new approaches to toxicology by utilization of molecular approaches of toxicogenomics, molecular toxicology, and the Environmental Genome Project.