A native of Geneva, NY, George Abraham graduated from Hobart College in 1959 with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and chemistry, and received the MS (mathematics) in 1961, and M.D. degrees at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1963.

He received clinical and research training at the University of California San Francisco where he published his first research report, the University of Illinois, Chicago and the University of Rochester. He remained at the University of Rochester where he has served as the Associate Dean of Research, and in a variety of other leadership positions including Directorships of the Center on Aging, the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center and the Medical Scientist Training (MD/PhD) Program all of which were funded by the National Institutes of Health. He is currently Medical Center Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Pediatrics, and a member of the Cancer Center’s Honorary Board. He is an author on more than 100 scientific publications, a contributor to 3 books, and has procured 3 patents. Among many of his laboratory’s achievements are identification of an incipient gene mutation causing benign lymphocytes to morph into malignant hematologic tumors, development of methods to genetically modify a patient’s tumor cells to target and kill the patient’s cancer (suicide gene) and fostering the development of an antibody that is widely used to isolate and purify human stem-cell populations for wide clinical and therapeutic uses.

Nationally he has served as a member of the Director’s Advisory Committee (Board of Trustees) of the National Institutes of Health, as Chair of the steering committee of the Advisory Council to the Director and then as Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute on Aging, as Acting Deputy Director of the Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation Division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Chair and member of grant review committees and panels for the National Institutes of Health. His honors include an Arthritis Foundation Research Award, and an Allergic Diseases Academic Award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a MERIT research grant award from the National Institute on Aging, of the NIH, the Buswell award of the University of Rochester, and the President’s Medal from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Other academic appointments have included time as a visiting Investigator at the NY University Medical Center, and as a Visiting and Adjunct Professor of Pathology at Tulane University Medical School.

Active in many community projects, a few include service as a member and Board Chair of Garth Fagan Dance, the Board of Directors of the Geneva Arts Development Council and the Board of Managers and Art Acquisitions Committee of the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester NY, He is a current member of the Photographic acquisition committee of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography, the National Advisory Council of the Eastman School of Music, and the Board of the Arthur Dove Tribute Group and Project in Geneva, NY.

Among many philanthropic activities he has a) endowed an annual lecture in the Wilmot Cancer Institute to honor the deceased Eastman Dean Douglas Lowry; b) has provided for the acquisition and preservation of art in, the collection of Hobart and William Smith Colleges; c) has established the Dean’s lectureship at the University of Rochester medical Center; d) was a founding financial supporter and continues to support the annual San Francisco International Piano Festival; e) annually provides supports for concerts in the Cloverdale, Sonoma County Performing Arts Center and f) has provided for a named scholarship to honor the exceptional and innovative leadership of the current Eastman School of Music Dean Jamal Rossi and his beloved wife, Pamela.