Ashani Weeraratna, Ph.D.

Dr. Weeraratna is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Cancer Biology, E.V. McCollum Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She was appointed by President Biden as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, she was the Ira Brind Professor and Co-Program Leader, Immunology, Microenvironment & Metastasis Program Member at the Wistar Institute. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Lesotho in Africa, Weeraratna first came to the United States in 1988 to study biology at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She earned a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Oncology at George Washington University Medical Center. Dr. Weeraratna one of the first to study how the aging microenvironment guides metastasis and therapy resistance in melanoma. For this innovative work, she was selected by Nature to be a part of their “Milestones in Cancer Research” video series and in 2021 the NCI selected her as one of their “Top 5 Cancer Researchers Accelerating Cancer Research Into the Future”.     Finally, Dr. Weeraratna has been a champion of increasing diversity, evident in her writings (e.g., Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Reviews in Cancer, Cancer Cell and Cancer Discovery). She has successfully implemented strategies to increase diversity both through faculty recruitment, and in her student body. She is the author of “Is Cancer Inevitable?” meant to highlight the progress made in the field.  She is also heavily invested in Public Health, with multiple calls for sun protection and awareness through her social media presence, and community outreach.