Dr. George Vande Woude received his M.S. (1962) and Ph.D (1964) from Rutgers University. From 1964-1972, he served first as a postdoctoral research associate, then as a research virologist for the US Department of Agriculture at Plum Island Animal Disease Center. In 1972, he joined the National Cancer Institute as Head of the Human Tumor Studies and Virus Tumor Biochemistry Sections. In 1980, he was appointed Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Oncology and, in 1983, he was selected to be Director of the Advanced Bioscience Laboratories-Basic Research Program at the National Cancer Institute’s Frederick Center, a position he held until 1998. From 1995-1998, Dr. Vande Woude was Special Advisor to the Director of the National Cancer Institute and served to reorganize the intramural basic research at NCI. In 1999, he was selected to be the first Director of the newly created Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Dr. Vande Woude is the recipient of the National Institutes of Health Merit Award, the Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Award for Cancer Research, and a Lifetime Achievement Award in Technology Transfer from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In 1993, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He served on the Award Assembly of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation (1990-1994) and serves on the scientific advisory boards of Columbia University Comprehensive Cancer Center (1986- ); Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (1990- ); Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University (1995- ); Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center (1999- ); University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center (1999- ); W.M. Keck Center for Cancer Gene Therapy, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center (1999- ); Karmanos Cancer Institute & Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wayne State University (2001- ); US Military Cancer Institute (2001- ). He is also as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Association of Cancer Research (2001-), is a member of the National Dialogue for Cancer (2001-) and has served on the National Cancer Legislation Advisory Committee (2000-2001). In 2002, Dr. Vande Woude was awarded the Alice Hogge and Arthur A. Baer Professorship and is Visiting Professor, Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, University of Chicago.

Dr. Vande Woude is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the American Association for Cancer Research. He is the founder and President of the Foundation for Advanced Cancer Studies (1985- ), which sponsors annual meetings on Oncogenes and Cancer Genetics and Tumor Suppressor Genes that are designed to accommodate and encourage participation by young cancer research investigators.
Dr. Vande Woude is the author of over 220 scientific research articles and over 60 articles in books or monographs. He has served as Editor of Journal of Virology and as an Editorial Board Member of Cell, Cancer Research, and Journal of Virology and is currently as an Editorial Board Member of Oncogene. Dr. Vande Woude was Founding Editor of Cell Growth and Differentiation and, since 1989, has been Co-editor (with George Klein) of Advances in Cancer Research 33 volumes.

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