Columbia, B.A., 1981, M.D., 1988, Ph.D., 1988
Dr. Maddon is a biotechnology entrepreneur who serves as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Science Officer, and a Director of Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes new medicines in the areas of gastroenterology, oncology, and virology. He founded Progenics in 1986 while an M.D./Ph.D. student at Columbia. The Company’s first commercial product, RELISTORTM, was recently launched in the United States, the European Union, and Canada.
Dr. Maddon is a molecular virologist and immunologist who has made major contributions to our understanding of viral entry and infection. In a series of landmark studies as a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Axel (University Professor at Columbia and Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 2004), he isolated the gene encoding CD4 and demonstrated that CD4 serves as the primary receptor for entry of the AIDS virus (HIV) into immune system cells. While at Progenics, Dr. Maddon and his collaborators discovered that a second receptor, CCR5, is also required for HIV entry. The Company’s PRO 140, a monoclonal antibody to CCR5 designed to treat HIV infection, is now being tested in phase 2 clinical trials. In recent years, Dr. Maddon’s work has focused on developing innovative therapies for prostate cancer and hepatitis C virus infection. He also leads a consortium of scientists developing a next-generation HIV vaccine candidate.
Dr. Maddon has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications. He has served on the editorial board of Journal of Virology, and chaired and served on numerous scientific review committees of the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense. He has also received several honors, including Columbia University’s Dr. Alfred Steiner Award for Biomedical Research and Dr. Harold Lamport Biomedical Research Prize, and been awarded many federal research grants and contracts.
Dr. Maddon has a long-standing commitment to science education and to providing research opportunities for high school students. Together with high school science teachers in Westchester County, he founded the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair and coordinates a science research mentoring program. Dr. Maddon also serves on the advisory committees of Columbia’s Science Honors Program and The Rockefeller University’s Science Outreach Program. At Rockefeller, Dr. Maddon also serves on the Executive Committee of the University Council, the Bridges to Better Medicine Committee, and the Technology Innovation Fund Committee.
At Columbia, Dr. Maddon was graduated summa cum laude from the College with a B.A. in Biochemistry and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received an M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Maddon was elected to serve as a Senate-consulted Trustee of Columbia University in 2008. He resides with his family in Scarsdale, NY.
