Josef Penninger

Josef Penninger, MD was formerly a lead researcher at the Amgen Research Institute in Toronto. Since 2002 Josef Penninger was the founding and scientific director of the newly established Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Austria. In 2018 he accepted the appointment as Director of the Life Sciences Institute (LSI) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada.

Major achievements include pioneering insights into the molecular basis of osteoporosis and breast cancer, as well as the study of metastatic spread. Josef Penninger’s major awards include the Descartes Prize, the Wittgenstein Prize of the Austrian Federal Government, the Ernst Jung Prize for medical excellence, an AAAS Award, the Innovator Award from Era of Hope/U.S. Department of Defense and a second ERC Advanced grant.