Biography:
Widely recognized as a pioneer of gene editing—a technique in which synthetic DNA molecules are used to patch or repair mutations in human chromosomes—Dr. Eric Kmiec is now the Director of the Gene Editing Institute at the Helen F Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, Christiana Healthcare with faculty appointments at the University of Delaware and Georgetown University Medical School. Most recently, Dr. Kmiec served as the founding Director and Eminent Scholar of the Marshall Institute for Interdisciplinary Research at Marshall University from 2009-2012. Research in his laboratory has been supported by the National Institute of Health in the form of R01 and R21 grants respectively for over 20 years. He has also received funding from the High Q Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the March of Dimes, the Tobacco Research Institute, Pfizer, Napro Biotherapeutics and a variety of biotechnology companies. He serves on the editorial boards of many journals including BioEssays, Biomaterials etc. Dr. Kmiec has authored over 140 peer-reviewed journal publications and has edited several books on gene therapy. He has more than 30 issued patents or patent applications to his credit, has founded two biotechnology companies and is currently a senior consultant and member of the scientific advisory board of the gene editing company, ETAGEN. Over the course of his 20+ year career, Dr. Kmiec has trained postdoctoral fellows and 15 graduate students in the field of molecular medicine, most of whom currently occupy senior research positions at major universities, pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. He has received numerous research and community service medals and awards for his work, including, most recently, the prestigious William F. Proudford Sickle Cell Anemia Research Award in 2012. In February of 2013, Dr. Kmiec was named honorary commander of the medical wing at Dover Air Force Base; he was appointed in January 2014 to serve a second term. Dr. Kmiec has served and serves on numerous study section review panels for the National Institutes of Health, Canadian Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and a long list of private foundations. From 1999-2008, Dr. Kmiec was a full Professor of Biology at the University of Delaware and Director of Applied Genomics at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute.
