Paula Hammond

Professor Paula T. Hammond is Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. She is Vice Provost for Faculty and was the Department Head of Chemical Engineering. She investigates electrostatic polymer systems for the delivery of drugs to specific parts of the body, including thin film coatings to release proteins that regenerate bone, dressings that release RNA to assist in wound healing, and her current primary area of work on nanoparticles that can bind to tumors specifically to treat cancer. She has had a particular focus on the development of new therapies for ovarian cancer that arm the immune system to help address both primary and recurrent tumors.

Professor Paula Hammond was elected into the National Academy of Science in 2019, the National Academy of Engineering in 2017, the National Academy of Medicine in 2016, and the 2013 Class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In January 2025, she was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. She is also a member of the National Academy of Inventors. She received the Margaret H. Rousseau Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement by a Woman Chemical Engineer, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry from the Franklin Institute and the 2025 Othmer Gold Medal. She has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Moderna Therapeutics and is currently a member of the Board of Alector Therapeutics and the Board of Sail Biomedicines, a Flagship company. In 2021, Professor Hammond was selected to become a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).