Robert Benezra obtained his PhD in 1986 from Columbia University New York, where he studied the nucleosome organization of the mouse beta major globin gene. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, he identified the Id genes as dominant negative regulators of the helix–loop–helix protein family of transcription factors. In 1990 Dr Benezra moved to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in the Department of Cell Biology where he continued his research on the role of the Id proteins in mammalian development. Dr Benezra is a full Member at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Cell Biology at Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Dr Benezra's main interest now centers on the role of the Id proteins on postnatal angiogenesis. In particular his laboratory focuses on understanding why Id-expressing endothelial cell precursors are required for tumor angiogenesis and identifying means of inhibiting Id protein activity as a strategy for inhibiting tumor angiogenesis.