Mary Beckerle, PhD, serves as executive director of Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI). She has previously served as HCI’s deputy director and as senior director of laboratory research. She has been a faculty member at the University of Utah since 1986, where she is a distinguished professor of biology and adjunct professor of oncological sciences. Since 1999, she has held the Ralph E. and Willia T. Main Presidential Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. She is a member of the Cell Response and Regulation Program.

Beckerle is a noted cell biologist, a nationally recognized researcher, a mentor and teacher to students and postdoctoral fellows, and an experienced administrator. Beckerle developed the Multidisciplinary Cancer Research Training Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute and served for several years as a principal investigator of a National Cancer Institute grant on this training initiative. She has a strong commitment to training young scientists and has taught a variety of courses in the biological sciences. Her dedication to teaching has been recognized in her being honored with the University of Utah’s Biology Award for Excellence in Teaching – a nomination made by her students, many of whom now hold scientific positions nationwide as faculty members or researchers.

In the field of cell biology, her research has defined the molecular machinery that controls cell movement activity critical for organ formation, wound healing, and tumor metastasis. Her laboratory discovered and characterized pathways that control how cells sense and respond to environmental cues, including both chemical and mechanical signals. Genetic studies carried out in Beckerle’s lab have demonstrated key roles for these novel pathways in embryonic development as well as normal physiology.

In recognition of her research accomplishments, Beckerle was named an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association. She received a Senior Research award from the American Cancer Society, and in 2000, she was appointed as a Guggenheim Fellow and Rothschild-Yvette Mayet Award Scholar at the Curie Institute in Paris. She was honored with the Utah Governor’s Award for Science and Technology in 2001. In 2007, she was presented with the Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence, the most prestigious award given to University of Utah faculty members. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.