19 Facts About Siddhartha Mukherjee

Siddhartha Mukherjee is an Indian-American physician, biologist, and author.

Siddhartha Mukherjee is best known for his 2010 book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, that won notable literary prizes including the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, and Guardian First Book Award, among others.

Siddhartha Mukherjee is described as part of a select group of doctor-writers who have "transformed the public discourse on human health", and allowed a generation of readers a rare and intimate glimpse into the life of science and medicine.

Siddhartha Mukherjee was born to a Bengali Brahmin family in New Delhi, India.

Siddhartha Mukherjee's father, Sibeswar Mukherjee, was an executive with Mitsubishi, and his mother Chandana Mukherjee, was a former school teacher from Calcutta.

Siddhartha Mukherjee won a Rhodes Scholarship for doctoral research at Magdalen College, University of Oxford.

Siddhartha Mukherjee worked on the mechanism of activation of the immune system by viral antigens.

Siddhartha Mukherjee was previously affiliated with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and with Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Siddhartha Mukherjee's laboratory is based at Columbia University's Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In January 2025, Siddhartha Mukherjee launched Manas AI, an AI-enabled drug discovery startup, together with Reid Hoffman, with about $25 million in venture capital funding.

Siddhartha Mukherjee is a trained haematologist and oncologist whose research focuses on the links between normal stem cells and cancer cells.

Siddhartha Mukherjee has been investigating the microenvironment of stem cells, particularly on blood-forming stem cells.

Siddhartha Mukherjee's research has been recognised through many grants from the National Institutes of Health and from private foundations.

Siddhartha Mukherjee's lab has identified novel genetic mutations in myelodysplasia and acute myelogenous leukaemia and has played a leading role in finding therapies for these diseases.

Siddhartha Mukherjee's team have shown that OCR cells can be transplanted into animals, and they can regenerate cartilage and bone after fractures.

Siddhartha Mukherjee's lab has been investigating the interaction between cancer genetics and the microenvironment, including the metabolic environment.

Siddhartha Mukherjee claimed that understanding of epigenetics "would overturn fundamental principles of biology, including our understanding of evolution," as he said:.

Siddhartha Mukherjee criticises the IQ test as a measure of intelligence, and endorses the theory of multiple intelligences over general intelligence.

Siddhartha Mukherjee argues that the results of IQ tests for determining general intelligence do not represent intelligence in the real world.