Always a busy man and never satisfied to do one thing at a time though, at the same time he was busy founding his first biotech firm, he was also appointed Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at NYU Medical Center, where he served for eleven years. But the success of SUGEN, along with his continuing ground-breaking research, led him to develop and launch a second biotech firm in 2001 called Plexxikon, a company that took a unique discovery approach that led to discoveries in a number of therapeutic areas, including cardio-renal disease, CNS, inflammation, metabolic disease, and oncology.

 
But mirroring the same multitasking from his time at SUGEN, when he was also Chair at NYU; shortly after founding Plexxikon he became Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine, where he continues his research and his work today. Remarkably, he founded a third biotech firm called Kolltan in 2008—illustrating once again that Dr. Joseph Schlessinger is not a man who is satisfied with the status quo. It is his incredible drive and dedication that has led, and will continue to lead to new discoveries that benefit all of mankind.

 
Prolific writer
Dr. Schlessinger serves on several editorial boards for the most important peer-reviewed journals in the world, and has written and published over 500 papers himself. And since in the academic world, publishing means success, Dr. Schlessinger can definitely be counted as one of the most successful scientists of our time. In addition to number of publications, another way to gauge the importance of a scientist is the measure the number of times his work is cited in other material, and Dr. Schlessinger is reported to be one of the most cited researchers in the world with over 50,000 citations in existence.

 
A man of many honors
Dr. Schlessinger has received too many honors to count, but a few of them include the Ciba-Drew Award (1995), Antoine Lacassagne Prize (1995), The Distinguished Service Award of Miami Biotechnology (1999), Honorary Membership of the Japanese Biochemical Society (1999), Taylor Prize (2000), and an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Haifa (2002).

 
In 2006, he was bestowed the prestigious million-dollar Dan David Prize for his role in developing innovative cancer treatments. The Dan David Prize, an international award endowed by the Dan David Foundation at Tel Aviv University, encourages innovative research and promotes the greatest scientific, technical, and humanistic achievements that improve the condition of all humanity.