Douglas Melton, PhD, Co-Director of HSCI, a leading stem cell and regenerative biologist, and one of the driving forces behind Harvard’s ascendancy to world leadership in the field, has been named a University Professor, Harvard’s highest professorial distinction.
“While the world knows Doug Melton as a scientist who has played a seminal role in the exponential growth of the new field of stem cell science, we at Harvard also know him as an untiring mentor to scientific leaders of tomorrow, and as an academic who is passionate about improving undergraduate education,” Faust said.
The University Professorships were established by the President and Fellows of Harvard College in 1935 as a special way to recognize “individuals of distinction...working on the frontiers of knowledge, and in such a way as to cross the conventional boundaries of the specialties.”
“I really don’t know how to properly express my gratitude to President Faust for this honor,” Melton said of his assuming the Xander University Professorship. “But far, far more important than any honor I am being granted is the unstinting support that President Faust, the University, and my colleagues have provided for our efforts to establish Harvard as a global leader in stem cell science and regenerative biology. They have stayed the course in the face of intense political opposition and fiscal difficulties, and without their faith in the science we would never be where we are today.”