Register here to attend the career chat (registration required for boxed lunch): Alumni Career Chat Registration
Alumni Career Chats provide a unique opportunity to connect with Chemistry at Illinois alumni in an informal, interactive setting. Unlike a traditional lecture, Alumni Career Chats are more evenly divided between presentation and Q&A/conversation.
Dr. Daniel Heller
Head, Cancer Nanomedicine Laboratory
Member, Molecular Pharmacology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute
Co-Director and Professor, The Pat and Ian Cook Doctoral Program in Cancer Engineering
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Professor, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine
B.A. in History, Rice University, '00
Ph.D. (Strano), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, '10
The Multistep Career of an Academic Entrepreneur
Friday, April 5, 2024
12 pm
Noyes Laboratory 353
Boxed lunch provided (Registration required)
*This lecture is open to all students and postdocs*
Abstract
A bachelor’s degree in history, stint as a middle school science teacher, and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Illinois propelled Dr. Heller into his career as an academic and entrepreneur in nanomedicine at a major medical center in New York City. Heller initiated the first PhD program in Cancer Engineering and several startup companies while running his laboratory focused on the development of nanotechnologies for the research, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Advice and/or cautionary tales on: an omnidirectional career path, graduate life in Urbana-Champaign, and entrepreneurship, with a possible cameo from Dr. Heller’s parents.
Bio
Dr. Daniel A. Heller, PhD, is Head of the Cancer Nanomedicine Laboratory, Member of the Molecular Pharmacology Program, and Co-Director of The Pat and Ian Cook Doctoral Program in Cancer Engineering at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, as well as Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Heller obtained his PhD in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 2010. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on over 20 pending or issued patents. His work focuses on the development of nanoscale technologies for the research, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.
2024 LAS Outstanding Young Alumni Award Recipient
Dr. Heller will receive a 2024 Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences for his lab's new nanotherapeutic approach targeting blood vessels to deliver medicines to brain cancers. This work could open the doors to new treatments for brain cancer. He will be recognized, along with seven other alumni award recipients, at a celebration on April 5, 2024.
