 George
L. Wright, Jr., Ph.D.
Scientific Director, Virginia Prostate
Center
Professor Emeritus
Microbiology
and Molecular Cell Biology
Eastern Virginia Medical School Dr. Wright joined EVMS in 1973 and became
Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and
Molecular Cell Biology in 1986; he is a co-founder of the
Virginia
Prostate Center. He received the Dean's Outstanding Faculty Award in
1990. Dr. Wright established the Immunology Program, which provides cancer testing and
other clinical testing services to the Hampton Roads area medical community,
and he was instrumental in establishing a state-of-the-art flow cytometry
facility and a molecular biology laboratory. All three of these laboratories
have been essential resources for the study of prostate and other cancers. Originally from Ludington, Michigan, Dr.
Wright earned his undergraduate degree at Albion College and a Ph.D. in
immunology at Michigan State University in 1966. He joined EVMS after six
years as a faculty member at George Washington University. Dr. Wright has
published more than 125 articles, and has received numerous awards for his
research, including one from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Wright's research interests are to
discover cancer-associated biomarkers that can be used to develop tests for
the early detection/diagnosis of cancer. During his 30-year scientific
career, he has been instrumental in identifying several potential protein
markers for prostate and other urological cancers. His laboratory was
involved in the early testing and assessment of the first prostate specific
antigen (PSA) test developed by Hybritech, Inc. Dr. Wright's current research is involved in
developing diagnostic tests for prostate cancer using innovative proteomic
technologies, and also, in collaboration with Drs. Christine Laronga and
Antonia Vlahou, is applying the same technologies to search for diagnostic
markers for early detection of breast, ovarian and bladder cancers. |
