World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
100
Citations
30858
World Ranking
282
National Ranking
113

Genetics

D-Index
98
Citations
28164
World Ranking
818
National Ranking
409

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2017 - Member of the European Academy of Sciences
  • 2001 - US President's National Medal of Science "For his theoretical and experimental discoveries on the origin of species, genetic diversity, and population dynamics that led to a new understanding of biological evolution, and his distinguished contributions to education, the promotion of public understanding of science, and the philosophy and ethics of the scientific enterprise.", Presented by President George W. Bush in a White House East Room ceremony on June 12, 2002.
  • 1980 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1977 - Fellow of John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
  • 1977 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1968 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Overview

Francisco J. Ayala was affiliated with the University of California, Irvine in the United States. Their research focused primarily on fields related to Medicine and Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, with significant contributions specifically in Oncology, Cancer Research, Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine, Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine, and Genetics.

They authored numerous papers covering topics that included Breast Cancer Treatment Studies, Advanced Breast Cancer Therapies, Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers, HER2/EGFR in Cancer Research, Cancer Treatment and Pharmacology, Inflammatory Biomarkers in Disease Prognosis, and the Economic and Financial Impacts of Cancer.

Their recent publications included:

  • Mitochondrial DNA drives abscopal responses to radiation that are inhibited by autophagy, 2020, Nature Immunology
  • Mechanobiology of Autophagy: The Unexplored Side of Cancer, 2021, Frontiers in Oncology
  • SEOM-GEICAM-SOLTI clinical guidelines for early-stage breast cancer (2022), 2023, Clinical & Translational Oncology
  • Estratificación, monitorización y control del riesgo cardiovascular en pacientes con cáncer. Documento de consenso de SEC, FEC, SEOM, SEOR, SEHH, SEMG, AEEMT, AEEC y AECC, 2021, Revista Española de Cardiología
  • Assessment of a Genomic Assay in Patients With ERBB2-Positive Breast Cancer Following Neoadjuvant Trastuzumab-Based Chemotherapy With or Without Pertuzumab, 2023, JAMA Oncology

Frequent co-authors included:

  • Esmeralda García-Torralba
  • Esther Navarro Manzano
  • Pilar de la Morena Barrio
  • Sara López-Tarruella
  • Alejandra Ivars Rubio

Their work was frequently published in venues such as Annals of Oncology, Clinical & Translational Oncology, Cancer Research, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Clinical Cancer Research.

Throughout their career, Francisco J. Ayala received several acknowledgments, including membership in the European Academy of Sciences in 2017 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1980. They were also a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, both from 1977, as well as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 1968.

In 2001, they were awarded the US President's National Medal of Science for theoretical and experimental discoveries on the origin of species, genetic diversity, and population dynamics, along with their contributions to education, public understanding of science, and the philosophy and ethics of the scientific enterprise. This award was presented by President George W. Bush in 2002.

Best Publications

  • ENZYME VARIABILITY IN THE DROSOPHILA WILLISTONI GROUP. IV. GENIC VARIATION IN NATURAL POPULATIONS OF DROSOPHILA WILLISTONI

    Francisco J. Ayala;Jeffrey R. Powell;Martin L. Tracey;Celso A. Mourão

  • Global Models of Growth and Competition

    Michael E. Gilpin;Francisco J. Ayala

  • A clonal theory of parasitic protozoa: the population structures of Entamoeba, Giardia, Leishmania, Naegleria, Plasmodium, Trichomonas, and Trypanosoma and their medical and taxonomical consequences

    Michel Tibayrenc;Finn Kjellberg;Francisco J. Ayala

  • Pseudogenes: are they "junk" or functional DNA?

    Evgeniy S. Balakirev;Francisco J. Ayala

  • Evolutionary and geographical history of the Leishmania donovani complex with a revision of current taxonomy

    Julius Lukeš;Isabel L. Mauricio;Gabriele Schönian;Jean Claude Dujardin

  • Teleological Explanations in Evolutionary Biology

    Francisco J. Ayala

  • Studies in the Philosophy of Biology

    Francisco Jose Ayala;Theodosius Dobzhansky

  • Natural populations of Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, have a complex multiclonal structure

    Michel Tibayrenc;Philip Ward;Andres Moya;Francisco J. Ayala

  • Frequency-Dependent Selection

    Francisco J. Ayala;Cathryn A. Campbell

  • Chromosome speciation: Humans, Drosophila, and mosquitoes

    Francisco J. Ayala;Mario Coluzzi

  • Origin of the metazoan phyla: Molecular clocks confirm paleontological estimates

    Ayala Fj;Rzhetsky A

  • Are eukaryotic microorganisms clonal or sexual? A population genetics vantage.

    M Tibayrenc;F Kjellberg;J Arnaud;B Oury

  • Competition between species: theoretical models and experimental tests.

    Francisco J. Ayala;Michael E. Gilpin;Joan G. Ehrenfeld

  • Genetic characterization of six parasitic protozoa: parity between random-primer DNA typing and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis.

    Michel Tibayrenc;Katja Neubauer;Christian Barnabe;Francoise Guerrini

  • Phylogeny of the malarial genus Plasmodium, derived from rRNA gene sequences

    Ananias A. Escalante;Francisco J. Ayala

  • Nucleotide sequences provide evidence of genetic exchange among distantly related lineages of Trypanosoma cruzi

    Carlos A. Machado;Francisco J. Ayala

  • GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION DURING THE SPECIATION PROCESS IN DROSOPHILA.

    Francisco J. Ayala;Martin L. Tracey;Dennis Hedgecock;Rollin C. Richmond

  • Allozymes as Diagnostic Characters of Sibling Species of Drosophila

    Francisco J. Ayala;Jeffrey R. Powell

  • ISOZYME VARIABILITY IN TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI, THE AGENT OF CHAGAS' DISEASE: GENETICAL, TAXONOMICAL, AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE.

    Michel Tibayrenc;Francisco J. Ayala

  • Evidence for positive selection in the superoxide dismutase (Sod) region of Drosophila melanogaster.

    Richard R. Hudson;Kevin Bailey;Douglas Skarecky;Jan Kwiatowski

  • Tempo and mode in evolution.

    W M Fitch;F J Ayala

  • Dynamics of Origination and Extinction in the Marine Fossil Record

    John C. Avise;Stephen P. Hubbell;Francisco J. Ayala

  • Homage to Linnaeus: How Many Parasites? How Many Hosts?

    John C. Avise;Stephen P. Hubbell;Francisco J. Ayala

  • Microbes on Mountainsides: Contrasting Elevational Patterns of Bacterial and Plant Diversity

    John C. Avise;Stephen P. Hubbell;Francisco J. Ayala

  • Ecological Extinction and Evolution in the Brave New Ocean

    John C. Avise;Stephen P. Hubbell;Francisco J. Ayala

Frequent Co-Authors

John C. Avise
John C. Avise University of California, Irvine
Michel Tibayrenc
Michel Tibayrenc Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
Stephen P. Hubbell
Stephen P. Hubbell University of California, Los Angeles
François Renaud
François Renaud University of Montpellier
James W. Valentine
James W. Valentine University of California, Berkeley
Andrés Moya
Andrés Moya University of Valencia
Walter M. Fitch
Walter M. Fitch University of California, Irvine
Laurence D. Mueller
Laurence D. Mueller University of California, Irvine
John F. McDonald
John F. McDonald Georgia Institute of Technology
Julius Lukeš
Julius Lukeš Czech Academy of Sciences

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