Michael Hemann

Michael Timotee Hemann (born 1971) is an American cancer geneticist and Professor of Biology in the David H. Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The research in Hemann's laboratory focuses on identification and characterization of genes involved in tumor formation, cancer progression, and chemotherapeutic response.

Michael Hemann was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1971, but grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He attended Wesleyan University for college, eventually graduating with a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology and biochemistry in 1993. He went on to receive his Ph.D. in human genetics from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2001. His thesis work was conducted in Carol Greider's lab. His work as a graduate student primarily focused on testicular atrophy and he spent a majority of his time observing mouse testicles in part to understand the correlation between telomere length, life span, penile measurements, and cancer risk.

In his free time Michael Hemann enjoys playing the base (alone), attending reruns of his favorite Broadway musical Cats, and listening to German Schlager songs. During his postdoctoral studies he was briefly a member of a scientist-formed group named "weapons of mouse-destruction" but the group tragically broke up due to him only wanting to play songs from the musical Cats.