Abstract
Simon Powell, MB BS, PhD, a cancer physician-scientist from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, has been appointed head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
"Simon is a talented research scientist who has done much to uncover the molecular mechanisms that allow normal tissues and cancer cells to repair their DNA after exposure to ionizing radiation," says Larry J. Shapiro, MD, dean of the School of Medicine and executive vice chancellor for medical affairs. "He possesses the leadership skills and vision to move our Department of Radiation Oncology forward in a continued effort to achieve excellence in all of its missions."
Powell is a leader in research into BRCA1 and BRCA2, two genes that can sharply increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. Among other accomplishments, Powell developed new tests that let doctors interpret formerly ambiguous results from tests for the risk-enhancing forms of BRCA1 and BRCA2.
Powell, who is originally from England, was head of the breast cancer service and clinical director of the Gillette Women's Cancer Center Program at Massachusetts General, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School. He earned both his medical degree and doctorate in cell and molecular radiation biology at the University of London. Powell trained at the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research in England before coming to the United States in 1991 as a clinical oncology fellow at Harvard.
Powell also will become a professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology. As department head, he succeeds Carlos A. Perez, MD, who led the department since it was founded in September 2001.
"Replacing a colleague like Carlos Perez was not easy, but I think in Simon we are incredibly fortunate to have someone with solid leadership capability and outstanding clinical and research skills," says Timothy J. Eberlein, MD, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin professor and director of the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center.
Powell currently is principal investigator or co-principal investigator for six federal research grants and has served on various committees for the National Institutes of Health, including site visit committees that have reviewed major cancer-related grants at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of North Carolina and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He was associate editor of the International Journal of Cancer for eight years and currently serves on the editorial boards of the journals Radiation Research and Cancer Biology and Therapy.
Powell says his goals include creation of a center for molecular targeted radiotherapy that will work to "combine the latest biology with the best technology."
"We plan to encourage this attitude in the teaching of residents, the recruitment of new faculty and the development of clinical trials within the Siteman Cancer Center," he says. "The opportunity clearly exists to make Washington University's Department of Radiation Oncology the premier radiation oncology department in the country."
The department employs more than 200 faculty and staff at Washington University and is composed of four divisions. The clinical division provides treatment for patients and conducts clinical trials; the cancer biology division studies the effects and interactions of radiation, heat and cytotoxic agents on cells; the physics division explores the physics of radiation oncology, plans treatment, and researches and develops new treatment equipment; and the administration and information systems division maintains computer services and information systems.
Department member Joseph L. Roti Roti, PhD, professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics and of cell biology and physiology, notes that radiation oncology includes a unique mixture of applied medical research, basic biological research and physics research. These three areas focus on different aspects of one question: how best to use radiation to destroy tumor cells while minimizing damage to regular tissues.
"Radiation damages DNA, and how well cells can repair that damage is one of the main determinants of how well they survive after radiation treatments," says Roti Roti. "Simon has a solid record of achievements in DNA repair research, and that experience is going to be essential to improving our ability to make it tougher for tumor cells to recover while reducing damage to normal tissues."
Powell assumes his duties as department head and professor at Washington University on Oct. 1.
"Simon is committed to the best possible patient care, to providing superb training and education, to continuing the development of the scientific basis of radiation oncology and to translating new discoveries into meaningful clinical advances," says Shapiro.
For more information please contact: Michael C. Purdy; Tel.: 314.286.0122; Email: purdym@wustl.edu
Ohio State University has recruited world-renowned physician-researcher Carlo M. Croce to direct OSU's nationally recognized Human Cancer Genetics Program, which was initiated and built by another world-renowned cancer researcher, Dr. Albert de la Chapelle.
Croce will chair the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics. In addition, the university has plans to create an Institute of Genetics and Dr. Croce will be instrumental in that process. His appointment takes effect Oct. 1, 2004.
Croce, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, studies the molecular changes in genes that lead to cancer. He is particularly interested in the early changes of malignancy and how they might serve as targets for new treatment and preventive agents. He has also discovered a number of cancer-related genes, including BCL2, ALL1, TCL1, FHIT and LZTS1.
"Carlo Croce is a brilliant researcher whose work has revealed the variety of mutated genes-oncogenes-that are involved in leukemias, lymphomas and other cancers," says Dr. Michael A. Caligiuri, director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. "His findings greatly expanded our understanding of cancer and the process of programmed cell death," Caligiuri says, "and his work has provided important tools for patient management."
Croce is presently director of the Kimmel Cancer Institute/Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia. He was drawn to Ohio State by the OSU cancer program's efforts to facilitate collaborations between physician-scientists and laboratory scientists to improve patient care, by the directorship of the planned Institute of Genetics and by the opportunity to direct OSU's Human Cancer Genetics Program.
The Human Cancer Genetics Program (HCGP) was started in 1997 by de la Chapelle, the Leonard and Charlotte Immke Professor of Cancer Genetics, who also is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
The HCGP has since grown to include 16 faculty members, 150 full-time staff and up to 50 students. Faculty conduct both clinical and basic research. Basic research projects focus on how genes are activated and inactivated, how cell-growth signals are transmitted and regulated within cells, and how cells interact with the immune system. Clinical research focuses on discovering genes linked to cancer and mutations that predispose people to cancer.
"This recruitment is an excellent manifestation of OSU's continuing to strive upward," de la Chapelle says. "Dr. Croce's arrival signals the initiation of the second and crucial phase in Ohio State's development of national and international excellence in cancer genetics."
De la Chapelle will remain at OSU and continue his research, working closely with Croce. He will become the second OSU Cancer Scholar, enabling him to further expand his research program.
Croce also will succeed Dr. Caroline C. Whitacre as chair of the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics. Whitacre will continue to focus, with expanded responsibilities, on her two other critical leadership roles as vice dean of research in the College of Medicine and Public Health, and associate vice president for research in the Office of Health Sciences. She also will maintain her successful research program on immunological aspects of multiple sclerosis. Whitacre's leadership over the past few years has played a key role in the significant increases in research funding and productivity in the medical center.
Croce's standing in the cancer-research community is readily shown by the awards he has been given. "Carlo has received almost every significant award for cancer research one can earn," says Dr. David E. Schuller, executive director of the OSU Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. "They include two Outstanding Investigator awards from the National Cancer Institute, the Rosenthal Award from the American Association for Cancer Research, the John Scott Award, the Pasarow Foundation Cancer Award, the GM Cancer Research Foundation Charles S. Mott Prize and many others."
In 2003 Croce became a member of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze, detta dei XL, the Italian National Academy of Science. Currently, Croce is principal investigator on four federal research grants and has more than 650 published research papers.
Croce has also served as an external adviser to the OSU cancer program since 1988, providing him an intimate view of the program's growth.
"I strongly believe that the OSU cancer program is developing into one of the nation's foremost leaders in cancer research," Croce says. "My strength in cancer-gene discovery complements the strengths at the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center. Together, we will work to develop novel and successful approaches to cancer prevention, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment based on gene-target discovery, verification and rational drug development."
The benefits of Croce's arrival at the OSU medical center extend far beyond the cancer program.
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