James F. Amatruda, MD, PhD is Director of Basic and Translational Research in the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute and the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; and Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University and his MD,PhD from Washington University School of Medicine. He did internship and residency training in Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, followed by fellowship training in Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care in Boston, MA. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Leonard Zon at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. From 2005-2019, Dr. Amatruda was on the faculty of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX.

Dr. Amatruda is a physician-scientist with a primary research and clinical focus on solid tumors of childhood including sarcomas, germ cell tumors and Wilms tumor. His lab has developed zebrafish models of genetic subtypes of pediatric solid tumors to better define their biology and to use that knowledge to identify and validate novel approaches for improved therapies. He has had long-standing leadership positions in the Children’s Oncology Group; serving as Chair for the Germ Cell Tumor Biology Committee and the Rare Tumors Biology Committee. He also serves as a member of the COG Solid Malignancies Integrated Translational Science Center Steering Committee, and on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the William Guy Forbeck Foundation, the Pablove Foundation, Curing Kids Cancer and the 1 Million 4 Anna Foundation.