Jon C. Aster, MD, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Associate Pathologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is a co-author of Robbins Basic Pathology, 9th Edition; Pocket Companion to Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 8th Edition; Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 8th Edition, and Hematopathology, a new volume in the High Yield Pathology series.
Hailing from the Midwest, Dr. Aster received his medical degree from the University of Michigan School of Medicine, as well as a PhD in human genetics. Soon after, he became a resident in pathology under the esteemed Dr. Ramzi Cotran at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Aster completed his fellowships there in hematopathology in molecular oncology.
In addition to numerous publications, professional honors, and hospital appointments, Dr. Aster is a co-leader of the Cancer Research Center of the Brigham Biomedical Research Institute, Deputy Director for Membership of the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and leads the multi-institutional program project grant on oncogenic notch signaling, which is supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Since the early 1990s, Dr. Aster has been interested in the molecular biology of cancers of the blood and blood-forming elements, including leukemia and lymphoma. His laboratory conducts research on Notch, a fundamental signaling pathway that controls the way cells communicate with one another and respond to their external environment. This pathway plays a central role in regulating many aspects of normal cellular development. It is also important in certain forms of leukemia, most notably T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL).
Related Authors: Richard Mitchell, MD, PhD; Vinay Kumar, MBBS, MD, FRCPath; Abul K. Abbas, MBBS
