Andrew (Andy) McMahon, PhD, FRS

Research Day 2023 Guest Speaker

Professor Andrew (Andy) McMahon is the W. M. Keck Provost and University Professor in the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) where he chairs the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and directs the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research.

McMahon received his bachelor’s degree from Oxford University and his PhD from University College London. McMahon completed his postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology then moved to London to start his independent research laboratory in 1984. In 1988, McMahon took up a position as assistant member at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology, becoming full member and chair of the department in 1992. In 1993, McMahon became a professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the faculty of arts and sciences at Harvard University. In a 19-year career at Harvard, McMahon was the Frank B. Baird Jr., Professor of Science, chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, a founding faculty of the Department of Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology, and principal investigator of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. In 2012, McMahon moved from Harvard to his current position at USC.

McMahon’s research has provided fundamental insights into cell interactions driving the assembly of multiple mammalian organ systems with a focus on the central nervous system, skeleton and kidney. Discoveries from the McMahon laboratory have illuminated normal processes of organogenesis and tissue repair, and the misregulation of developmental pathways in cancer. The McMahon group’s early kidney studies identified some of the foundational signals in induction, patterning and morphogenesis of the mammalian kidney. Recent studies have extended a developmental understanding from the mouse to the human kidney, promoted human disease modeling through stem cell-derived organoid systems, and identified molecular and cellular processes at play in kidney repair.

McMahon is a member of National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Molecular Biology Organization and the Royal Society.