New cancer center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell

Feb 5 2008

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center has created an expanded cancer program dedicated to advancing research, prevention and treatment of the disease. The new Cancer Center is led by renowned cancer physician-scientist Dr. Andrew Dannenberg.

A joint initiative of Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the Center will create strengthened and expanded research programs and multidisciplinary collaborations.

"This bold initiative will build on our strengths to create a cancer center dedicated to improving the diagnosis and treatment of patients," says Dr. Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College. "By our commitment to advancing cancer research from bench to bedside, we will fulfill our mission of unlocking scientific and medical discoveries to improve lives around the globe."

"Our goal is to transform what is already an excellent cancer program into a renowned cancer center, investing in areas where we have historic strength -- such as lymphoma, lung cancer, genitourinary and preventive oncology -- while establishing new programs that can be uniquely identified with NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell," says Dr. Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

"Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. While scientific progress continues, close to 1.5 million people will be diagnosed this year. Many of these cases will be found after the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. New ideas are desperately needed to understand why cancers form, grow and spread and how to contain them, predict them and ultimately prevent them," says Dr. David P. Hajjar, senior executive vice dean and executive vice provost of Weill Cornell Medical College and dean of Weill Cornell's Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

In conjunction with this new Center, we have committed 10 new positions for the recruitment of cancer biologists, adds Dr. Hajjar.

"The key to the success of this initiative will be collaboration and team science. Our program will facilitate interactions between physicians and scientists from a wide variety of fields -- everything from hematology and oncology to radiology, surgery, urology, genetics, pediatrics, immunology, pharmacology, even communication sciences -- helping them to create synergies that might not otherwise exist," says Dr. Dannenberg, the Henry R. Erle, M.D.–Roberts Family Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and a leading gastroenterologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

"These multidisciplinary collaborations will extend to our colleagues at Cornell University-Ithaca, Weill Cornell Medical College–Qatar and the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas," he notes.

A leading authority in cancer prevention, Dr. Dannenberg has pioneered research helping to understand the link between inflammation and cancer -- and to elucidate the mechanisms by which nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin reduce the risk of developing certain cancers. Dr. Dannenberg has held a series of leadership positions in the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and serves on the editorial boards of several leading basic science and clinical oncology journals.

"We also aim to improve our physical infrastructure, with additional lab space and shared resources to stimulate the advances that are so badly needed," adds Dr. Dannenberg.

Cancer Research at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell

NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell's Cancer Program is a leader in cancer research, with accomplished programs in numerous areas, including the Lehman Brothers Lung Cancer Research Center, the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute of Hematology and Oncology, and the Multiple Myeloma Center. In addition, major initiatives include the International Early Lung Cancer Action Project (I-ELCAP), a worldwide research study with the mission of early detection of lung cancer using CT scans, and research into novel treatments for prostate cancer.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in New York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, education, research and community service. Weill Cornell physician-scientists have been responsible for many medical advances -- from the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer to the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth, and, most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally-conscious brain-injured patient. NewYork-Presbyterian, which is ranked sixth on the U.S.News & World Report list of top hospitals, also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/The Allen Pavilion. Weill Cornell Medical College is the first U.S. medical college to offer a medical degree overseas and maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey and Qatar.

http://www.med.cornell.edu