Paula T. Hammond

Professor Paula T. Hammond is an MIT Institute Professor and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. She is executive vice provost and previously served as vice provost for Faculty 2024–2025, and as the head of the Department of Chemical Engineering 2015–2023. 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. She received her SB at MIT, her MS at Georgia Institute of Technology, and her PhD at MIT, with all her degrees in Chemical Engineering, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Chemistry at Harvard University.

Hammond was elected to 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 is a former member of the scientific advisory board of Moderna Therapeutics and currently serves as a director on the board of Alector Therapeutics, a public company, and Sail Biomedicines, a Flagship Pioneering company. Hammond served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) from 2021–2025 and also serves as a member of the board at the MIT Engine.