Ronald M. Evans is a 2020 NOMIS Distinguished Scientist and has been a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies since 1978, the director of Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory since 1995 as well as holder of the March of Dimes Chair in Molecular and Developmental Biology since 1998. He is leading the project The Science of Health: The Fundamental Mechanisms of Organ Communication.

Evans grew up in Los Angeles, California (US) and earned a BA in bacteriology and PhD in microbiology and immunology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his postdoctoral work at Rockefeller University (US) in 1978 before becoming a faculty member at Salk that same year. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the Wolf Prize in Medicine, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, the Canada Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the March of Dimes Prize and the Keio Medical Science Prize. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1989 and the National Academy of Medicine in 2003.