Dr. Dinah Singer serves as the Acting Director of the Center for Strategic Scientific Initiatives, is the Deputy Director for Scientific Strategy and Development of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Molecular Regulation Section of the Experimental Immunology Branch, NCI, a position she has held since 1991. From 1999 until 2019, she served as the Director of the Division of Cancer Biology (DCB), NCI. Dr. Singer’s research interests are in the areas of regulation of gene expression and molecular immunology. She has trained a large number of post-doctoral fellows, post-baccalaureate students and high school students who have gone on to successful scientific careers.
In her capacity as Deputy Director, Dr. Singer co-chaired the 2016 Blue Ribbon Panel of the Cancer Moonshot. The Blue Ribbon Panel was charged with identifying the research opportunities that are uniquely poised to be accelerated through the Cancer Moonshot. She has continued to lead and oversee the implementation of the Recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Panel, which has resulted in the initiation of nearly 100 new programs. Dr. Singer also oversees NCI’s Center for Research Strategy, the Center for Cancer Training, and the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities. Most recently, Dr. Singer has overseen the effort establishing the Cancer Grand Challenges partnership with CRUK.
The NCI’s DCB, which Dr. Singer led until 2019, supports and facilitates continuing and emergent areas of cancer biology research, which encompasses the vast majority of NCI’s basic research budget. A well-respected scientist and science administrator, Dr. Singer provided leadership and support for the initiation of a number of programs in DCB, including the Mouse Models of Human Cancer Consortium, Integrative Cancer Biology Program, Physics and Oncology Network, GM/CA Synchrotron X-Ray Facility, the Tumor Microenvironment Network, the Cancer Systems Biology Consortium and the Molecular and Cellular Characterization of Screen Detected Lesions. New and emerging areas of interest identified by Dr. Singer for the Division include expanded efforts in integrative cancer biology, tumor microenvironment, inflammation and cancer, systems cancer genetics and epigenetics and cancer and citizen science.
Dr. Singer received her B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. from Columbia University. She serves on a number of scientific and editorial boards. She is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research and American Association of Immunologists. Dr. Singer has received a number of awards, including the NIH Director’s Award and serves in leadership positions on a variety of trans-NIH scientific and administrative committees such as the NIH Common Fund.