George Q. Daley

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George Quentin Daley is an American biologist and physician. He is the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine, and a professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.

Daley was born in Catskill, New York. He earned a BA from Harvard College, a PhD in biology from MIT, and an MD from Harvard Medical School, where he graduated summa cum laude. He trained at Massachusetts General Hospital and has worked at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has led major research and medical programs and served as president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (2007–2008).

In his research, Daley helped show that the BCR/ABL oncogene can cause chronic myeloid leukemia in mice, supporting the idea of targeting this gene with drugs like imatinib (Gleevec). He has also studied drug resistance and helped guide the development of next-generation cancer medicines. His current work aims to translate stem cell biology into better therapies for genetic and malignant diseases. His lab develops human cell culture and mouse models of blood diseases and cancer, creates customized stem cells to treat genetic immune deficiencies in mice, and explores how embryonic stem cells can become germ cells and how reprogrammed cells model disease. He has also studied the RNA-binding protein Lin28 and its role in cancer and metabolism.

Daley has been elected a fellow or member of several major scientific organizations and has received many awards, including the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. He has served on editorial boards for journals such as Science, Cell, and Blood, and on committees that set stem cell research guidelines. He has testified before U.S. Senate and House committees to advocate for more support for stem cell research. He chairs the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness to address COVID-19 and other emerging diseases. Daley is married to Amy Edmondson.