Nathan A. Ellis, PhD

Geneticist

Nathan Ames Ellis, Ph.D. is a cancer geneticist in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Arizona. He serves as Program Director of the Cancer Biology Program in the University of Arizona Cancer Center and Director of the Genetics graduate program.

Dr. Ellis was born and raised in New York City, beginning his scientific career in somatic cell genetics and studying gene regulation, sex determination, and mammalian development. In 1990, he joined the New York Blood Center as an Assistant Member, where in collaboration with James German and Joanna Groden he characterized the molecular genetics of the gene mutated in Bloom’s syndrome BLM. In 1997, Ellis took a position in the Department of Human Genetics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, continuing studies of molecular mechanisms underlying genomic instability and the cancer genetic epidemiology and population genetics of colorectal cancer. He has since held positions at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago studying cancer health disparities and the relationship between genetic risk factors and environmental factors in colorectal carcinogenesis. He continues to study molecular mechanisms underlying genomic instability in Bloom’s syndrome with the aspiration to develop better treatment options for persons with the syndrome who develop cancer.