Director, Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies, Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation, 3000 Kent Avenue, Suite D1-104, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47906; 765-775-1005; waters@gpmcf.org
Dr. Waters is a comparative biomedical scientist with expertise in the domains of cancer, aging, and interdisciplinary graduate education. He currently serves as the Director of the Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies at the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation in West Lafayette, Indiana. From 2000-2014, Dr. Waters served as Professor of Comparative Oncology in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Associate Director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. He received his B.S. (1980) and D.V.M. (1984) degrees from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (1992).
Dr. Waters is nationally recognized for his work on validating pet dogs as models of human aging and cancer. In 2018, he published in Scientific American “Cancer Clues from Pet Dogs”, which benchmarked for investigators and the public the science behind the field of comparative oncology. Since 2008, he has led the research team conducting the first systematic study of exceptional longevity in pet dogs. The research hinges on the idea that pet dogs with extreme longevity — equivalent to humans who live to be 100 years old — offer a valuable scientific opportunity to uncover important clues to understanding what it takes for pets and people to age more successfully and avoid cancer. In 2010, his first cross-country scientific expedition to study the oldest-living Rottweilers in their homes (“The Old Grey Muzzle Tour”) was featured in USA Today and Good Morning America. Dr. Waters is also an expert on the comparative aspects of prostate cancer in men and dogs, selected as one of the 100 scientists who formulated the scientific direction of the prostate cancer research agenda of the United States in 1997. His expertise as a One Health-minded translational researcher is evidenced by the publication of more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers in a variety of high-impact journals, including Aging Cell, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Journal of Gerontology, Carcinogenesis, Prostate, Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, and Free Radical Biology and Medicine. He is one of 130 scientists worldwide to be recognized as a Fellow in the Biology of Aging by the Gerontology Society of America.
Dr. Waters is an award-winning teacher. His innovation in educating scientists-in-training is evidenced by his recent paper “As if Blackbirds Could Shape Scientists: Wallace Stevens Enters the Classroom of Interdisciplinary Science”, published in The Wallace Stevens Journal, examining how a close consideration of the limits of perception, thought, and language can provide key insights into developing tomorrow’s imagino-analytical discoverers. In 2017, as part of a creativity project with collaborators in Australia, Dr. Waters published a paper exploring how cultivating an attitude of language precision can catalyze creative excellence in scientific discovery and education. His 2013 TEDx talk, “The Oldest Dogs as Our Greatest Teachers: Get the Words Out of Your Eyes”, highlights the novelty of studying the oldest living pet dogs and underscores how our use of language limits scientific discovery and influences how we respond to new information.
Dr. Waters is a comparative biomedical scientist with expertise in the domains of cancer, aging, and interdisciplinary graduate education. He currently serves as the Director of the Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies at the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation in West Lafayette, Indiana. From 2000-2014, Dr. Waters served as Professor of Comparative Oncology in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Associate Director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. He received his B.S. (1980) and D.V.M. (1984) degrees from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (1992).
Dr. Waters is nationally recognized for his work on validating pet dogs as models of human aging and cancer. In 2018, he published in Scientific American “Cancer Clues from Pet Dogs”, which benchmarked for investigators and the public the science behind the field of comparative oncology. Since 2008, he has led the research team conducting the first systematic study of exceptional longevity in pet dogs. The research hinges on the idea that pet dogs with extreme longevity — equivalent to humans who live to be 100 years old — offer a valuable scientific opportunity to uncover important clues to understanding what it takes for pets and people to age more successfully and avoid cancer. In 2010, his first cross-country scientific expedition to study the oldest-living Rottweilers in their homes (“The Old Grey Muzzle Tour”) was featured in USA Today and Good Morning America. Dr. Waters is also an expert on the comparative aspects of prostate cancer in men and dogs, selected as one of the 100 scientists who formulated the scientific direction of the prostate cancer research agenda of the United States in 1997. His expertise as a One Health-minded translational researcher is evidenced by the publication of more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers in a variety of high-impact journals, including Aging Cell, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Journal of Gerontology, Carcinogenesis, Prostate, Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, and Free Radical Biology and Medicine. He is one of 130 scientists worldwide to be recognized as a Fellow in the Biology of Aging by the Gerontology Society of America.
Dr. Waters is an award-winning teacher. His innovation in educating scientists-in-training is evidenced by his recent paper “As if Blackbirds Could Shape Scientists: Wallace Stevens Enters the Classroom of Interdisciplinary Science”, published in The Wallace Stevens Journal, examining how a close consideration of the limits of perception, thought, and language can provide key insights into developing tomorrow’s imagino-analytical discoverers. In 2017, as part of a creativity project with collaborators in Australia, Dr. Waters published a paper exploring how cultivating an attitude of language precision can catalyze creative excellence in scientific discovery and education. His 2013 TEDx talk, “The Oldest Dogs as Our Greatest Teachers: Get the Words Out of Your Eyes”, highlights the novelty of studying the oldest living pet dogs and underscores how our use of language limits scientific discovery and influences how we respond to new information.