Director of Simmons Cancer Center, UTSW Pharmacology Chair Elected to the National Academy of Medicine

Newswise — DALLAS – Oct. 21, 2024 – Carlos L. Arteaga, M.D., Director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Dean of Oncology Programs at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and David Mangelsdorf, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Pharmacology and Professor of Biochemistry, have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

Dr. Arteaga, also a Professor of Internal Medicine, is recognized for advances in breast cancer research that have led to the development of targeted therapies, including PI3K inhibitors, which slow cancer progression. Dr. Mangelsdorf has made significant contributions to lipid biology, with discoveries that could lead to new treatments for diabetes, obesity, cancer, parasitism, and more.

“The elections of Dr. Arteaga and Dr. Mangelsdorf to the National Academy of Medicine are a reflection of scientific excellence and the significant contributions they have made, respectively, to the fields of breast cancer research and metabolic disease,” said Daniel K. Podolsky, M.D., President of UT Southwestern and also a member of the NAM. “Dr. Arteaga’s discoveries related to HER2 and PI3K mutations have led to new treatments for breast cancer, while Dr. Mangelsdorf has provided valuable insights into the key signaling pathways that govern cholesterol, lipid, and bile acid homeostasis.”

With the elections, UT Southwestern has 24 members of the National Academy of Medicine – more than any other institution in Texas – along with 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators.

Carlos L. Arteaga, M.D.

Annette Simmons Distinguished University Chair in Breast Cancer Research

Dr. Arteaga joined UT Southwestern in 2017 as Director of the Simmons Cancer Center, one of 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the U.S. and the only one in North Texas. He is known globally for his laboratory-based translational research that has contributed to the understanding of molecular pathways involved in breast cancer and the development of strategies for treatment.

Dr. Arteaga is credited with discovering the role of TGFβ in breast cancer progression and as a therapeutic target; aberrant PI3K signaling and HER2 activating mutations on resistance to antiestrogens; and FGFR1 amplification on resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors, also in breast cancer. His work on trans-phosphorylation of oncogenic receptor tyrosine kinases led to the first national trial of two drugs targeted against the HER2 pathway, a combination of trastuzumab plus gefitinib. He has pioneered the use of neoadjuvant studies in patients for the discovery of biomarkers predictive of treatment response and mechanisms of drug resistance in breast cancer. His work was a major contribution to the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved combination of an estrogen receptor antagonist and a PI3K inhibitor for treating ER-positive PIK3CA mutant breast cancers.

Dr. Arteaga is a research scholar for Susan G. Komen. Since 2009, he has co-chaired the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), the world’s largest translational/clinical breast cancer meeting. He is also a former President of the American Association for Cancer Research, the world's leading cancer research organization.

Dr. Arteaga earned his medical degree at the Facultad de Ciencias Médicas of the Universidad de Guayaquil in his home country of Ecuador. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Emory University in Atlanta and a fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

“It is a great honor to be elected to the National Academy of Medicine,” Dr. Arteaga said. “It is a recognition of the translational research I was able to contribute together with many great colleagues at my former institution – Vanderbilt University – and UT Southwestern.” 

David Mangelsdorf, Ph.D.

Alfred G. Gilman Distinguished Chair in Pharmacology and the Raymond and Ellen Willie Distinguished Chair in Molecular Neuropharmacology in Honor of Harold B. Crasilneck, Ph.D.

Dr. Mangelsdorf, also a member of the NAS and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, joined UT Southwestern in 1993. Since 2002, he has run a joint laboratory with longtime scientific collaborator Steven Kliewer, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology and a member of NAS, focused on signal transduction pathways that impact diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, alcohol intoxication, and parasitism.

The Mangelsdorf/Kliewer Lab’s early work identifying the ligands and physiologic functions of several orphan nuclear receptors – proteins in the cell nucleus that flip genes on and off – led to the discovery of two signaling pathways mediated by the endocrine factors FGF19 and FGF21, which govern nutrient metabolism during feeding and fasting. The researchers and their colleagues also discovered the existence of a nuclear receptor pathway in parasitic nematodes and have shown that molecules that target this pathway may represent a new class of antiparasitic drugs.

More recently, the pair’s work on FGF21, a hormone produced in the liver, has attracted significant attention. In a paper published last year in Cell Metabolism, the researchers showed that a dose of FGF21 sobered up mice that had passed out from alcohol poisoning. Their findings could lead to effective treatments for acute alcohol intoxication, which is responsible for about 1 million emergency room visits in the U.S. each year.

After earning his undergraduate degree in aquatic biology and chemistry from Northern Arizona University, Dr. Mangelsdorf attended graduate school at the University of Arizona, where he successfully cloned the gene for the vitamin D receptor. This advance set the stage for his postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where he became interested in discovering and understanding proteins now called orphan receptors that play pivotal physiological functions after becoming activated by unknown molecules.

“Being elected to the National Academy of Medicine is a great honor,” Dr. Mangelsdorf said. “It not only recognizes me personally, but more importantly, the incredible team science from our laboratory and its contribution to medical science.”

Founded in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, the NAM is one of three Academies that make up the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the United States. Operating under the 1863 Congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academies are private, nonprofit institutions that work outside of government to provide objective advice on matters of science, technology, and health. 

For a complete list of NAM members at UTSW, please visit our Legacy of Excellence in Science & Medicine page. 

Dr. Kliewer holds the Diana K. and Richard C. Strauss Distinguished Chair in Developmental Biology. 

Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration and the Charles Cameron Sprague Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science.

About UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,200 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 120,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5 million outpatient visits a year.