Napoleone Ferrara (born 26 July 1956), is an Italian-American molecular biologist who joined University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center in 2013 after a storied career in Northern California at the biotechnology giant Genentech, where he pioneered development of new treatments for cancer and age-related macular degeneration. There, he discovered VEGF—and made the first VEGF antibody—which suppresses growth of a variety of tumors.He received Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research in 2011 for his research on angiogenesis, the process of new blood vessel formation that plays a key role in cancer proliferation and a number of other diseases. Dr. Ferrara’s discoveries opened the door to the development of a new class of therapeutics to combat a serious eye disorder and contributed to the development of new oncology therapeutics.