The Tisch Cancer Institute Connections

December 2017

I am pleased to launch the first issue of a monthly newsletter for our Tisch Cancer Institute (TCI) community. The goal is to update everyone on what’s happening at TCI and provide links to events and other items of interest. While the focus of this issue is on new roles for some of our faculty and some of our most recent recruits, future issues may also include announcements of grant awards, honors, funding opportunities, high-impact publications, and the like. I am sure you share my excitement about the tremendous progress and innovations that are hallmarks of our TCI programs, thanks to the talents and dedicated efforts of all. It is an honor to serve as director.

With best wishes for a healthy and joyous holiday season,

Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD

Director, Tisch Cancer Institute

TCI Connections is a monthly publication for the Tisch Cancer Institute Community

Co-editors: Janet Aronson and Rhaisili Rosario

MOUNT SINAI TCI FACULTY NEW ROLES

William K. Oh, MD

Deputy Director,

The Tisch Cancer Institute

William Oh, MD, Professor of Medicine and Urology, is Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, the Ezra M. Greenspan, MD Professor in Clinical Cancer Therapeutics, and Associate Director for Clinical and Translational Research, a role he has held since the founding of TCI. He was instrumental in helping acquire NCI designation in 2015. An expert in the clinical management of genitourinary malignancies, Dr. Oh’s research is focused on development of targeted therapies for advanced prostate cancer, including novel biomarkers, hormonal therapies, and vaccines.

Julio A. Aguirre-Ghiso, PhD

Co-Leader, Cancer Mechanisms Research Program

Julio Aguire-Ghiso, PhD, is Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology;

Oncological Sciences; & Otolaryngology. His translational research is focused on deciphering the biology of residual cancer cells that persist in a dormant state

after therapy in order to develop therapeutics that target minimal residual disease before it becomes clinically detectable and thus prevent recurrences. With the Cancer Mechanisms Research Program, Dr. Aguire Ghiso facilitates basic research on genetic, biochemical, and developmental pathways that drive cancer initiation and progression, and fosters intra- and inter-program collaborations that accelerate development of novel, targeted therapy. Dr. Aguire-Ghiso has held a faculty appointment at Mount Sinai since 2008.

Nina Andrea Bickell, MD, MPH

Associate Director, Community Engaged and Equity Research; Co-Leader, Cancer Prevention and Control Program

Nina Bickell, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Population Health Science and Policy; a Professor of Medicine, General Internal Medicine; and Co-Director for the Center for Health Equity and Community Engaged Research. At Mount Sinai since 1995, Dr. Bickell has extensive experience in large-scale, multi-center trials that encompass regional, national, and international collaborations and are designed to reduce racial disparities, promote health equity, and improve the quality of cancer care. She currently is Principal Investigator of NCI and PCORI-funded studies focused on those aims. As liaison of ASCO’s Education and Disparities committees, Dr. Bickell has identified and presented key challenges the nation faces in cancer care delivery.

Paolo Boffetta, MD, MPH

Associate Director for Global Oncology

Paolo Boffetta, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Medicine,

Hematology and Medical Oncology; Oncological Sciences;

Environmental Medicine and

Public Health; and Global Health.

Dr. Boffetta is Associate Director for Global Oncology at TCI. His research focus is on cancer epidemiology and cancer prevention, with an emphasis on modifiable risk factors such as environmental exposure and personal behaviors, gene-environment interactions, molecular epidemiology, and evidence integration. Dr. Boffetta is a Principal Investigator on multiple grant-funded studies related to World Trade Center recovery workers.

Jerry Edward Chipuk, PhD

Associate Director, Basic Science Shared Resources

Jerry Edward Chipuk, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Oncological Sciences and Dermatology. He joined Mount Sinai in 2010, following post-doctoral fellowships at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Chipuk’s research, aimed at the interplay between mitochondria and cell death signaling, investigates how cancer promoting pathways converge on mitochondrial function to regulate malignancy and chemotherapeutic success. His laboratory has developed multiple model systems, collaborations, and experimental tools to better understand the intersections between mitochondria, cell biology, and disease. As Associate Director of Basic Science Shared Resources, Dr. Chipuk will enhance and support Mouse Genetics, Flow Cytometry, and Imaging resources, and develop novel shared resources for the TCI community .

Lina Jandorf, MA

Director, Office of Community Engagement

Lina Jandorf, MA, is a Research Professor of Population Health Science and Policy with the Center for Behavioral Oncology. Working with community agencies and health organizations, Ms. Jandorf is responsible for bringing cancer education and screening programs to

medically underserved communities. She serves as the project director of the Witness Project of Harlem, Esperanza y Vida, and Witness CARES—culturally targeted community education programs with an emphasis on screening for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. Ms. Jandorf is also an active member of New York State’s Cancer Consortium Steering Committee and a member of the steering committee for New York City’s Citywide Colon Cancer Control Coalition.

Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD

Associate Director, Population Science; Program Co-Leader, Cancer Prevention and Control

Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Health Science and Policy, Professor of Thoracic Surgery, Chief of the Division of Social and Clinical Epidemiology, Director of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology, and Director of the Center for the Study of Thoracic Diseases. Dr. Taioli’s work includes the study of cancer predisposing factors, hormone metabolism and genetic susceptibility to environmental exposure, health disparity, and chronic diseases prevention. She oversees collaborative translational and interdisciplinary research that integrates population studies with genomic and proteomic research, with the goal of enhancing clinical practice to improve disease treatment and quality of life.

American Society of Hematology

Annual Meeting

December 9-12, 2017

American Society of Clinical Oncology June 1-5, 2018

Abstracts Due by February 13, 2018

TCI-Hem/Onc Reception at ASH

December 9, 7:30-9:30 pm

Omni Hotels & Resorts

100 CNN Center

International Ballroom

C-M2-North Tower

RSVP: Yesenia.pichardo@mssm.edu

TCI CANCER PREVENTION AND CONTROL PROGRAM

Research on Cancer Disparities in East Harlem

Cancer disparities continue to persist among underserved populations, despite widely available screening examinations that can lead to early detection. While interpersonal social networks can positively impact health through facilitation of healthcare access and sharing of information and resources, few studies have examined how these networks can be leveraged to promote healthy behavior change among underserved communities. Jamilia Sly, PhD, Assistant Professor of Population Health Science and Policy and member of the TCI Cancer Prevention and Control Program, is tackling this challenge through her five-year, NCI Mentored Research Scientist Development Award to Promote Diversity (K01), Exploring Social Networks and Social Capital for Cancer Among Minorities in Public Housing. Dr. Sly’s study is aimed at better understanding the cancer education and screening needs and barriers of New York City Housing Authority residents in East Harlem, with the long-term goal of developing an intervention to promote cancer screening among older adult minorities in low-income, community-based settings, thereby reducing cancer mortality. The results of the study will be used to test a future randomized clinical trial of the developed intervention.

MOUNT SINAI TCI NEW RECRUITS

Anne Bowcock, PhD

Anne Bowcock, PhD, joined Mount Sinai as Professor of Oncological Sciences, Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, and Norman Orentreich, MD Professor of Dermatology Research. She most recently was Professor and Chair in Cancer Genomics at Imperial College in London, following 14 years as Joint Director of the Division on Human Genetics at Washington University. She earned her PhD from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. Dr. Bowcock was involved in the early identification of the familial breast cancer gene BRCA1. Her research on the genetics of the rare adult eye cancer, uveal melanoma, has revealed genetic driver mutations, including BAP1, leading to tumor formation and metastasis. Dr. Bowcock is examining the functional consequences of these mutations in order to develop novel targeted therapies. She is also investigating the role of CARD14, which she identified as a mutated gene in a familial form of psoriasis, in health and disease.

Amy Chan, MD

Amy Mei-Mei Chan, MD, joined Mount Sinai an Assistant Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Medicine. A neuro-oncologist, Dr. Chan is part of a multi-disciplinary team that manages primary brain tumors, central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma, nervous system metastasis, and neurological complications of cancer. Her research focus is on development of novel therapies for patients with brain cancer and CNS metastasis. Dr. Chan completed a residency in Neurology and a fellowship in Neuro-Oncology at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center. She received her MD from Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

Lisa Gaynes, BS, CCRP

Lisa Gaynes, BS, CCRP, has joined TCI as the Executive Director of Clinical Research Administration. As such, she will lead and manage clinical research and clinical trials operations, partnering with clinical investigators, nurses, and staff to advance translation of discoveries to our patients through interventional and non-interventional clinical trials. She will work closely with senior leadership to implement new clinical research initiatives and support strategic alliances with industry partners to develop new opportunities in clinical investigation. Ms. Gaynes has more than 20 years of experience at institutions including Dana Farber Cancer Institute, UCLA Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, NYU, Eli Lilly and Company, and, most recently, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

Ernesto Guccione, PhD

Ernesto Guccione, PhD, joined Mount Sinai as Associate Professor of Oncological Sciences and Associate Professor of Pharmacological Sciences. Dr. Guccione earned a PhD in Molecular Biology from the International School for Advanced Studies and the International Center for Genetic Engineering Biotechnology in Trieste, Italy, and a Master Degree in Medical Biotechnology from the University of Bologna. He completed post-doctoral fellowships in cancer biology and epigenetics at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan and at Harvard University. He was most recently affiliated with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore. Dr. Guccione’s laboratory uses biochemistry, mouse models, and next-generation sequencing to investigate basic mechanisms of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation in order to identify therapeutic opportunities and inform clinical applications.

Matko Kalac, MD, PhD

Matko Kalac, MD, PhD, joined Mount Sinai in September as an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology. Dr. Kalac completed a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Columbia University Medical Center in June 2017. He did his residency in Internal Medicine at NYU and postdoctoral research fellowships at NYU’s Perlmutter Cancer Center and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia. Dr. Kalac received his medical degree from Zagreb University Medical School in Croatia. Dr. Kalac is especially interested in translational research and early phase drug development for patients with refractory lymphoma.

Paz Polak, PhD

Paz Polak, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences; Oncological Sciences; Pathology; and Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology. A computational biologist, Dr. Polak is dedicated to eliminating cancer and improving health across ethnicities via genomics and data analysis.. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Polak was an Instructor at Harvard Medical School, an Assistant in Biostatistics at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a Research Fellow with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Dr. Polak received his PhD in Computational Biology from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics at the Free University Berlin. He earned a Master of Science in Biological and Physical Sciences from Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.

Nicholas Rohs, MD

Nicholas Rohs, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology, with a focus on Thoracic Oncology. He completed a fellowship in Hematology-Oncology and a residency in Internal Medicine, both at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, and earned his medical degree from New York Medical College. Dr. Rohs’s research interests include immune therapy, small cell lung cancer, and liquid biopsies.

Fajwanth Veluswamy, MD

Rajwanth R. Veluswamy, MD, joined Mount Sinai as an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology. With a Master of Science in clinical research from Mount Sinai, he plans to apply his foundation in research methodology and biostatistics to translational and epidemiological research in lung cancer with an immunotherapy focus. Dr. Veluswamy completed fellowships in General Medicine Research and Hematology and Medical Oncology at Mount Sinai, residency in Internal Medicine at Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Dallas, and a research internship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He earned his MD from the University of Szeged in Hungary.

NEW MOUNT SINAI TCI SEMINAR SERIES

TCI Seminar Series

Frontiers in Oncology, and Postdoctoral Presentations

Beginning in January, a new Tisch Cancer Institute Seminar Series will take the place of the current Oncological Sciences Seminar Series. It will be held from 12 noon to 1 pm every Tuesday. For more information about TCI events, including room location, you may view the Mount Sinai Health System online calendar .

The Tisch Cancer Institute Seminar Series will feature basic science presentations. It will also include the TCI Frontiers in Oncology special lecture each quarter. Additionally, on the last Tuesday of each month, two post-doctoral fellows will have an opportunity to present their work. That schedule is being formulated; Rhaisili Rosario is contacting faculty for their nominations.

The first Frontiers in Oncology lecture in 2018 will be held on March 20 and will feature William Sellers, MD .

Dr. Sellers is a core institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, and faculty member and senior advisor to the president for experimental therapeutics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has spent his academic career at the intersection of cancer biology and cancer genomics, investigating the basic mechanisms of tumor development.

TCI Research Resource Fair

Tuesday, January 30, at 1pm

Hess Center, 2nd Floor