Dr. Coffin is currently American Cancer Society Professor at the Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University. He is also Special Advisor to Director, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute for theHIV Drug Resistance Program. Dr. Coffin is an expert in retrovirology, especially understanding the interaction of retroviruses with their host cells and organisms. Dr. Coffin has served on several national committees to review and create policy regarding retroviruses and disease. Dr. Coffin has over 150 scientific publications and has contributed chapters to, and been editor of, several standard textbooks on retroviruses. In 1999, Dr. Coffin was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Coffin received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in the laboratory of Dr. Howard Temin (a Nobel Laureate for his work in retrovirology) and was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Charles Weissmann at the University of Zurich. Dr. Coffin also was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Viagene Inc.
