Dr. Howley is the Shattuck Professor of Pathological Anatomy and the Chairman of the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on the molecular biology of the papillomaviruses and the role of these viruses in carcinogenesis. His laboratory has elucidated important viral-host interactions leading to cellular transformation and viral pathogenesis.

Dr. Howley received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1968 and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1972. He was a Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Pathology, NCI from 1977-1979, served as Chief of the Viral Oncology and Molecular Pathology Section of the Laboratory of Pathology, NCI from 1979-1984 and was Chief of the Laboratory of Tumor Virus Biology, NCI from 1984-1993.

Among his numerous honors are the Warner-Lambert/Parke Davis Award (1983), Wallace P. Rowe Award (1986), Rutgers Medical School Distinguished Alumnus Award (1986), USPHS Meritorious Service Award (1989), the Paul Ehrlich Prize (1994) and the Rous-Whipple Award (2004) from the American Society for Investigative Pathology. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a past President of the American Society for Virology and of the American Society for Investigative Pathology.