Franco is the Dan L. Duncan Professor at the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center and the Gordon Cain Professor of Molecular & Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX. He is also Director of the Genetically Engineered Mouse Core and Associate Director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine.

After graduating Cornell in 1979, Franco received an M.S and Ph.D. in physiology from Michigan State. He did his postdoctoral training in reproductive and molecular biology under Dr. David Bullock in the Department of Cell Biology at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in 1983. Dr DeMayo has risen through the ranks at BCM to become full professor. During his research career, Franco has developed genetically engineered mouse models to investigate the progression of lung cancer and also to investigate the molecular mechanism regulating embryo implantation and pregnancy. The animal models developed in Franco’s lab have been shared throughout the global research community and has opened the field of endometrial biology to a functional genetic approach. His research has been recognized at Baylor where he received the Michael E DeBakey Research Excellence Award and nationally by the Society for the Study of Reproduction where he was given the Research Award.

Dr. DeMayo has served the Scientific Community by participating in numerous national and international review panels. He has served as a standing member of the National Institute of Health Study sections, Human Embryology and Development 1 (HED-1) and the Integrated Cellular Endocrinology and Metabolism (ICER). Franco has served as Associate Editor for Molecular Endocrinology and is currently co-Editor in Chief of Biology of Reproduction.

Franco lives with his wife Janet and son, when not at college, Franco III (age 22) in Houston.

At the time of our 40th reunion, Franco is Chief of the Reproductive and Developmental Biology Lab at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Health, in Research Triangle Park, NC. He is VP-Elect of the Society for the Study of Reproduction. His son Franco, is now married, and a dental student at University of Pennsylvania.