Introduction
Robert Cardiff is an American emeritus professor of pathology, educator, former chair of pathology at University of California, Davis, and scientist, best known for his contributions to biomedical research.
Early life and education
Cardiff graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in entomology and parasitology from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned a Doctor of Medicine in 1962 from the University of California, San Francisco, and completed a residency in anatomic pathology at the University of Oregon Health Sciences. DrCardiff was also a research fellow of the National Institutes of Health at the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed a Ph.D. in zoology in 1968.
Career
Cardiff's career began as an intern at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, NY, in 1962-1963. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, being discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In 1970, he started his academic career as an Associate Professor of Pathology at UC Davis School of Medicine, retiring as Distinguished Professor in 2005. Cardiff was recognized for introducing problem-based learning into the medical school curriculum and developing courses in the biology of cancer and the history and philosophy of science.
Research
Cardiff's scientific career is marked by his extensive work in genomic pathology and his pioneering contributions to the field of comparative cancer research. The recognition that the tumor phenotype is controlled by its oncogenic genotype remains one of his major contributions. With a focus on mouse models of mammary cancer, his research has encompassed a broad spectrum of areas including cancer research, informatics, education, and administration.
Grants and publications
Throughout his career, Cardiff held grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS). He has authored over 317 peer-reviewed papers and, including book chapters, totals 391 publications. His research, beginning with his thesis, focused in mouse mammary tumor biology, mouse models of mammary gland, but also broadly covered various aspects of cancer research.
Internet-based pathology services
A notable aspect of Cardiff's work since 1990 has been his use of the internet to provide pathology services for investigators using genetically modified mice to study human diseases. His experience in comparative pathology of mice and human, early adaptation of informatics and whole slide imaging facilitated international collaboration. This resulted in Cardiff having over 1,100 co-authors from 28 countries. In 2018, he was recognized for his continued contributions to science with the UC Davis 2018 Distinguished Emeritus accolade.
Notable publications
The following are some of Cardiff's most notable publications, particularly for his contributions to cancer research and genomic pathology:
- Guy, Chantale T.; Cardiff, Robert D.; Muller, William J. (1992-03-01). "Induction of Mammary Tumors by Expression of Polyomavirus Middle T Oncogene: A Transgenic Mouse Model for Metastatic Disease". Molecular and Cellular Biology. 12 (3): 954–961. doi:10.1128/mcb.12.3.954-961.1992. ISSN 1098-5549. PMC 369527. PMID 1312220.
- Guy, C T; Webster, M A; Schaller, M; Parsons, T J; Cardiff, R D; Muller, W J (1992-11-15). "Expression of the neu protooncogene in the mammary epithelium of transgenic mice induces metastatic disease". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 89 (22): 10578–10582. Bibcode:1992PNAS...8910578G. doi:10.1073/pnas.89.22.10578. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 50384. PMID 1359541.
- Wang, T. C.; Cardiff, R. D.; Zukerberg, L.; Lees, E.; Arnold, A.; Schmidt, E. V. (1994-06-23). "Mammary hyperplasia and carcinoma in MMTV-cyclin D1 transgenic mice". Nature. 369 (6482): 669–671. Bibcode:1994Natur.369..669W. doi:10.1038/369669a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 8208295. S2CID 4372375.
- Shachaf, Catherine M.; Kopelman, Andrew M.; Arvanitis, Constadina; Karlsson, Asa; Beer, Shelly; Mandl, Stefanie; Bachmann, Michael H.; Borowsky, Alexander D.; Ruebner, Boris; Cardiff, Robert D.; Yang, Qiwei; Bishop, J. Michael; Contag, Christopher H.; Felsher, Dean W. (2004-10-28). "MYC inactivation uncovers pluripotent differentiation and tumour dormancy in hepatocellular cancer". Nature. 431 (7012): 1112–1117. Bibcode:2004Natur.431.1112S. doi:10.1038/nature03043. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 15475948. S2CID 4412899.
- De Craene, Bram; Berx, Geert (2006-07-05). "Snail in the frame of malignant tumor recurrence". Breast Cancer Research. 8 (4): 105. doi:10.1186/bcr1521. ISSN 1465-542X. PMC 1779474. PMID 16834762.