Two Leading Prostate Cancer Experts Join Columbia University Medical Center & Newyork-Presbyterian Hospital
NEW YORK – NEW YORK – A prostate cancer clinician who helped discover a gene responsible for up to 70 percent of prostate cancer cases, and a scientist credited with improving the predictive diagnostic and prognostic accuracy of prostate and bladder cancers, have joined the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
The physician-scientists, Edward Gelmann, M.D. and Carlos Cordon-Cardo, M.D., Ph.D., will collaborate closely to rapidly translate clinical learnings into laboratory targets and move laboratory discoveries quickly into clinical advancements for patient care.
Dr. Gelmann comes to Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, where he directed the center’s Growth Regulation of Cancer Program and the center’s Clinical Research Management Office.
Dr. Gelmann will serve as deputy director for clinical research in the HICCC and chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, working to link Columbia’s oncology research database with the National Cancer Institute’s new database, enabling oncology researchers around the nation to expeditiously share findings and speed discovery. His laboratory will continue to focus on NKX3.1, a gene solely expressed in the prostate, which he helped discover in 1997.
Dr. Cordon-Cardo previously spent 24 years at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he created and directed the Division of Molecular Pathology, and led a movement to broaden the analysis of cancer tumors – from just determining the presence or absence of cancer cells to developing new research methods to identify the degree of malignancy and predict the progression of disease and which tumors might respond best to particular therapeutic options.
As associate director for research infrastructure in the HICCC and vice-chair of pathology, Dr. Cordon-Cardo will manage the cancer center’s experimental pathology research and state-of-the-art research facilities.
Both physicians will work closely with Riccardo Dalla-Favera, M.D., director of the HICCC, one of only three National Institutes of Health-designated comprehensive cancer centers in New York State.
“Dr. Gelmann’s impeccable leadership skills and extensive experience in managing complex clinical trials make him ideally suited for this new role,” said Dr. Dalla-Favera. “And Dr. Cordon-Cardo’s expertise in urologic cancers, combined with his innovative approach to molecular pathology, will enable us to continue to lead research discovery in these debilitating and deadly cancers – learnings that will translate to other cancers as well.”
“Columbia represents the opportunity to collaborate with not only top cancer researchers, but with outstanding faculty in many other disciplines – such as chemistry, engineering and computer science,” said Dr. Cordon-Cardo, who is also professor of urology in the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons (P&S), and co-leader of the Genitourinary Malignancy Program, a program concentrated on prostate and bladder cancers. “This type of integrated, multi-disciplinary effort is needed to move pathology and oncology towards a time when treatment can be individualized for each patient and their specific disease.”
Drs. Gelmann and Cordon-Cardo join the Columbia Urologic Oncology team, which is co-led by Mitchell C. Benson, M.D., the George F. Cahill Professor and chair of the Department of Urology at Columbia University P&S and urologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, and Daniel P. Petrylak, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Columbia University P&S and director of the Genitourinary Oncology Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia.
The Columbia Urologic Oncology team leads top-quality care for patients with prostate cancer and other urologic cancers, and field-leading research into these cancers. Additional members of this internationally recognized group include Department of Urology prostate cancer surgeons David Samadi, M.D., James McKiernan, M.D., Erik Goluboff, M.D. and Carl Olsson, M.D., as well as Department of Radiation Oncology faculty member Peter B. Schiff, M.D., Ph.D.
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The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian encompasses basic science, research, treatment, prevention and education efforts in cancer. The cancer center was initially funded by the National Cancer Institute in 1972 and became an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in 1979. The designation recognizes the center’s collaborative environment and expertise harnessing translational research to bridge scientific discovery to clinical delivery, with the ultimate goal to successfully introduce novel diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive approaches to cancer. The center is one of 39 comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. www.ccc.columbia.edu
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists, and public health professionals at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the College of Dental Medicine , the School of Nursing , the Mailman School of Public Health, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. www.cumc.columbia.edu
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital—based in New York City—is the nation’s largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital, with 2,335 beds. It provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine at five major centers: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Allen Pavilion and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division. One of the largest and most comprehensive health-care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education, and community service. It ranks sixth in U.S.News & World Report’s guide to “America’s Best Hospitals,” ranks first on New York magazine’s “Best Hospitals” survey, has the greatest number of physicians listed in New York magazine’s “Best Doctors” issue, and is included among Solucient’s top 15 major teaching hospitals. The Hospital has academic affiliations with two of the nation’s leading medical colleges: Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. www.nyp.org.