Anthony P. Monaco (born October 10, 1959) is an American geneticist and university administrator. He was the 13th president of

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

from 2011 to 2023.

Life

Monaco was born in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, and graduated from the Salesianum School in 1977. He earned an undergraduate degree as an independent concentrator in neuroscience and behavior at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1981 and played goalie on their men's water polo team. Monaco earned a Ph.D. in Neurobiology in 1987 and his M.D. in 1988 in a joint program from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. His doctoral research, supervised by Louis M. Kunkel, led to his landmark discovery of the gene responsible for X-linked Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in London, where he worked on the

human genome project The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...

at the

Imperial Cancer Research Fund Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and ...

(now

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

), and subsequently a faculty position at the Institute of Molecular Medicine of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Monaco identified the first gene specifically involved in human speech and language.

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winning biologist

Paul Nurse Sir Paul Maxime Nurse (born 25 January 1949) is an English geneticist, former President of the Royal Society and Chief Executive and Director of the Francis Crick Institute. He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along ...

once stated "Tony Monaco was among the first to recognize the importance of what was still an emerging research frontier, human genetics, and its vast potential to address problems such as cancer and autism." Monaco held a series of administrative positions at Oxford, the last being Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources), prior to being appointed President of Tufts University. He was also the Head of the Neurodevelopmental and Neurological Disorders Group at the

Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics The Centre for Human Genetics (CHG) is a human genetics research centre of the Nuffield Department of Medicine in the Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, funded by the Wellcome Trust among others. Facilities & resources The cent ...

. Monaco assumed the office of President of Tufts University in August 2011 from

Lawrence Bacow Lawrence Seldon Bacow (; born August 24, 1951) is an American economist and retired university administrator. Bacow served as the 12th president of Tufts University from 2001 to 2011 and as the 29th president of Harvard University from 2018 to 2 ...

. On February 14, 2022, Monaco announced that he would step down as president in summer 2023. His successor, Sunil Kumar, was announced on November 17, 2022 and assumed office on July 1, 2023.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Monaco, Anthony 1959 births Living people Pro-vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Harvard University alumni Princeton University alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Presidents of Tufts University Salesianum School alumni