Ronald M. (ron) Evans PhD

Dr. Ronald M. Evans, Ph.D., is professor and director of the Gene Expression Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Evans received his bachelor’s degree in bacteriology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in 1970, and his doctoral degree in microbiology and immunology, also from UCLA. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York before joining the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 1978. Evans is an authority on hormones, both their normal activities and their roles in disease. In 1985 he elucidated the complete structure of the human glucocorticoid receptor, which led to the discovery of a nuclear receptor superfamily for steroids, Vitamins A and D, thyroid hormone, bile acids, fatty acids, and cholesterol metabolites. These hormones activate transcriptional networks that control sugar, salt, calcium, and fat metabolism, thereby influencing our daily health as well as treatment of disease. Nuclear receptors are primary targets in the treatment of many cancers including leukemia (RAR), lymphoma GR), breast cancer (ER), prostate cancer (AR), and pancreatic cancer (VDR).