Physician-Scientist Is Appointed Omar Boraie Endowed Chair in Molecular Medicine
Joseph Contessa is the chair of radiation oncology for the Rutgers Cancer Institute, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Joseph Contessa, an internationally recognized physician-scientist whose work bridges laboratory discovery and patient care, has been appointed the Omar Boraie Endowed Chair in Molecular Medicine at Rutgers University for a five-year renewable term.
The Omar Boraie Endowed Chair in Molecular Medicine was established through a gift from real-estate developer Omar Boraie to advance cancer research and its potential for translating scientific breakthroughs into patient therapies and to support New Brunswick in its transformation into a health care city. The gift was matched by an anonymous donor as part of the fundraising campaign, Our Rutgers, Our Future: A Campaign for Excellence.
Contessa is the chair of radiation oncology for the Rutgers Cancer Institute, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He also serves as associate director for translational research at the Rutgers Cancer Institute, New Jersey’s only National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, together with RWJBarnabas Health.
Contessa’s research focuses on defining the adaptive mechanisms tumors use to become resistant to therapy, with the goal of identifying new therapeutic approaches in oncology. His work has advanced understanding of how tumors respond to radiation and how targeted molecular interventions may improve therapeutic outcomes. He has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals.
Contessa joined Rutgers in 2025 from Yale University, where he was a professor of therapeutic radiology, co-leader of the Yale Cancer Center Radiobiology and Genome Integrity Research Program, and vice chair for basic science research in therapeutic radiology, among other leadership roles. His career spans more than two decades in clinical radiation oncology, translational cancer research and academic leadership.
Over the course of his career, Contessa has secured extensive competitive research funding, including multiple awards from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense and the American Cancer Society, as well as venture-funded innovation projects. He holds multiple patents in glycosylation inhibition and drug development.
His leadership includes service on National Institutes of Health study sections, editorial boards of scientific journals and invited lectures at academic medical centers and cancer symposia. Contessa is a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and a recipient of the Harrington Discovery Institute Scholar-Innovator Award.
