From 1992 to 2009 he was a member of the faculty at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine of New York University School of Medicine and in 2010 he moved to The Clinical School of Cambridge University where he serves as a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and the Professor of Cellular Pathophysiology and Clinical Biochemistry with a laboratory based at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research.

His laboratory researches molecular mechanisms by which secretory cells adapt to the burden of unfolded proteins in their endoplasmic reticulum.

His nomination reads: David Ron has pioneered our understanding of how cells cope with the stress induced by protein misfolding in the endoplasmic reticulum.

His greatest conceptual contribution has been to reveal the precariousness of the protein folding environment in the ER and to highlight how it is challenged by subtle failure of homeostasis – concepts with both fundamental implications to biology and therapeutic application.

He identified the transcription factor CHOP and discovered its role in deregulating adipose tissue development in liposarcoma.