Monaco was born in
Wilmington, Delaware, and graduated from the
Salesianum School in 1977. He earned an undergraduate degree as an independent concentrator in neuroscience and behavior at
Princeton University in 1981 and played goalie on their men's water polo team. Monaco earned a Ph.D. in Neurobiology in 1987 and his M.D. in 1988 in a joint program from
Harvard University. His doctoral research, supervised by Louis M. Kunkel, led to his landmark discovery of the gene responsible for X-linked
Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in London, where he worked on the
Human Genome Project at the
Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now
Cancer Research UK), and subsequently a faculty position at the
Institute of Molecular Medicine of the
University of Oxford. Monaco identified the first gene specifically involved in human speech and language.
Nobel Prize-winning biologist
Paul Nurse once stated "Tony Monaco was among the first to recognize the importance of what was still an emerging research frontier, human genetics, and its vast potential to address problems such as cancer and autism." Monaco held a series of administrative positions at Oxford, the last being Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources), prior to being appointed President of Tufts University. He was also the Head of the Neurodevelopmental and Neurological Disorders Group at the
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. Monaco assumed the office of President of Tufts University in August 2011 from
Lawrence Bacow. On February 14, 2022, Monaco announced that he would step down as president in summer 2023. His successor,
Sunil Kumar, was announced on November 17, 2022 and assumed office on July 1, 2023. ==References==