Harold “Hal” Moses, M.D., ’62, the Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt University, is the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award — the highest honor for a member of the Vanderbilt alumni community. Moses is a highly acclaimed international lecturer and world-renowned scholar in the field of cancer biology.
Established in 1996 by Vanderbilt’s Alumni Association, the award recognizes an alumnus/alumna whose accomplishments and contributions have had the broadest impact and most positive effect on humankind. Recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award are celebrated for going beyond their successful vocation and bringing benefit to the universal community.
Much of Moses’s research career has been related to cellular activity and growth in breast cancer and the crucial discoveries from his research team have served as building blocks for other cancer scientists. His achievements have also been recognized with the 2013 American Association of Cancer Research Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research, the Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research at Vanderbilt and the T.J. Martell Foundation Lifetime Achievement Medical Research Award.
“The contributions of our alumni not only bring great pride to Vanderbilt, but make a lasting impact on our world,” said Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. “Dr. Moses’s renowned work in cancer research has helped arm the fight against that deadly disease. I am particularly proud that he has made these contributions as both a Vanderbilt alumnus and faculty member.”
“Dr. Moses is a true gem among the many accomplished alumni in the Vanderbilt community,” remarked Carroll Kimball, BA’84, president of the Vanderbilt University Alumni Association. “His work brings hope to all who know someone who has suffered from cancer. I am proud to name him as a recipient of the highest honor for our alumni.”
Moses has served as president of the American Association for Cancer Research, president of the Association of American Cancer Institutes, co-chair of the National Cancer Institute Progress Review Group and chair of the NCI Cancer Centers review panel. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies where he was the founding chair of the National Cancer Policy Forum.
Moses is a graduate of Berea College in Kentucky and of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and did his postdoctoral research training at the National Institutes of Health. After five years as a Vanderbilt faculty member in the Department of Pathology, he joined the Department of Cell Biology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., serving as chair of the Department of Cell Biology for six years before returning to Vanderbilt in 1985 as professor and chair of the Department of Cell Biology.
He is currently a professor of Medicine and Pathology, acting chair of Cancer Biology and director emeritus of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), where he was the founding director. He is also the founding and current director of the Frances Williams Preston Laboratories at VICC. He lives in Nashville with his wife, Linda.
Moses will officially receive the award during a ceremony in 2014.