Peter Maxwell Howley (born October 9, 1946) is an American pathologist, virologist, and professor at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

. He has been president of the

American Society for Virology The American Society for Virology (ASV) is an American scientific society serving the community of researchers in virology. The organization was founded in 1981 and was the first scientific society in the world dedicated exclusively to virology. Fo ...

and the

American Society for Investigative Pathology American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

and a co-

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

of the '' Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease''.

Biography

Howley was born in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.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 ...

with an A.B. in chemistry and in 1970 from

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

with an M.M.S. (Master of Medical Science) degree. In 1972 he graduated with an M.D. from

. From 1972 to 1973 he worked as an intern in pathology at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...

. He was a research associate from 1973 to 1975 at the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...

(NIAID) in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

. In 1977 he was granted board certification in

anatomic pathology Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, immunologic and molecular examination ...

. At the NCI's Laboratory of Pathology, Howley was from 1975 to 1976 a

resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceut ...

, from 1976 to 1977 a junior staff pathologist, from 1977 to 1979 a senior investigator, and from 1979 to 1984 Chief of the Viral Oncology and Molecular Pathology Section. From 1984 to 1993 he was Chief of the NCI's Laboratory of Tumor Virus Biology. In 1991, Howley became the George Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology at Harvard Medical School. He was the president of the

from 1998 to 1999 and the president of the

in 2006. By 2009 he was the Shattuck Professor of Pathology. Howley is considered to be a leader in research on

papillomaviruses ''Papillomaviridae'' is a family of non- enveloped double-stranded DNA viruses whose members are known as papillomaviruses. Several hundred species of papillomaviruses, traditionally referred to as "types", have been identified infecting all care ...

. Howley and his co-workers created

gene map In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

s of many species of papillomaviruses and analyzed their transcription patterns and systems of transcription regulation. The research identified papillomavirus

oncogene An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. In tumor cells, these genes are often mutated, or expressed at high levels.

s and the molecular mechanisms of their damaging effects. This work is considered fundamental for the understanding of the

pathogenesis In pathology, pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes . Descript ...

of papillomaviruses at the molecular level. Peter M. Howley and David M. Knipe have been co-editors-in-chief, since the 3rd edition, of ''

Fields Virology ''Fields Virology'' is an English-language virology textbook, originally it was published in two volumes and edited by Bernard N. Fields. The first edition in 1985 was called ''Virology'', but from the second edition, the book's title was changed ...

'', a standard work on

virology Virology is the Scientific method, scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host (biology), ...

, with 5th edition published in 2006 and 6th edition published in 2013. Howley is also one of the chief editors of ''The Molecular Basis of Cancer'', published by Elsevier. He was a co-editor of the '' Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease'' from 2007–2015. He is a member of the editorial board of the ''

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scie ...

''. He is married with three children. Peter M. Howley should not be confused with Paul M. Howley, who is a managing director of the vaccine biotechnology firm VAXMED Pty Ltd in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

Awards and honors

* 1983 — Warner-Lamber/Parke-David Award of the

American Society for Experimental Pathology American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

* 1986 — Wallace P. Rowe Award of the

for * 1997 — Member,

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 p ...

* 1993 — Member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

* 1994 —

Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is an annual award bestowed by the since 1952 for research in medicine. It carries a monetary prize of 120,000 Euro. The prize ceremony is traditionally held on the 14th of March, the birthday of Nob ...

(also awarded to

Harald zur Hausen Harald zur Hausen NAS EASA APS (; 11 March 1936 – 29 May 2023) was a German virologist. He carried out research on cervical cancer and discovered the role of papilloma viruses in cervical cancer, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Phy ...

) * 1996 — Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other F ...

* 2004 — Rous-Whipple Award of the

* 2011 — Keynote speaker at the

Convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a specia ...

Ceremony of the

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is a medical school of Rutgers University. It is one of the two graduate medical schools of Rutgers Health, together with New Jersey Medical School, and is closely aligned with Robert Wood Johnson University ...

* 2015 — NCI Outstanding Investigator Award, National Cancer Institute

Selected publications

* 1980 * 1981 * 1982 * 1985 * 1986 * 1989 * 1990 * 1991 * 1991 * 1992 * 1995 * 1997 * * 1999 * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howley, Peter M. 1946 births Living people People from New Brunswick, New Jersey American pathologists American virologists 20th-century American physicians 21st-century American physicians Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Princeton University alumni Rutgers University alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Harvard Medical School faculty Annual Reviews (publisher) editors