Director, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

We wish Mikkael Sekeres, MD, MS much luck as he transitions to a new position at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center as chief of the Division of Hematology. Dr. Sekeres has been a long-time advocate for cancer patients and clinical research in our center. His guidance, leadership and gift for writing will be missed.

Dr. Sekeres was a valued member of the Executive Committee, serving as Associate Director for Clinical Research since May 2020, and previously, Deputy Associate Director for Clinical Research from 2014-2020. Dr. Sekeres has been an oncologist at Cleveland Clinic since 2002 and simultaneously held an academic appointment at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. His research focuses on patients with Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

He has held an impressive number of leadership roles locally, nationally and internationally. At the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Dr. Sekeres was Director of the Leukemia Program and Vice Chair for Clinical Research. He Chairs the Medical Advisory Boards for the Aplastic Anemia and Myelodysplastic Syndromes International Foundation and the Dresner Foundation, and has served as Chair of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the FDA, Editor-in-Chief for the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Clinical News magazine, and as a Member of ASH’s Executive Committee. In addition to authoring over 400 scientific manuscripts, he writes a regular column for the New York Times and has written the book When Blood Breaks Down: Life Lessons from Leukemia (The MIT Press 2020).

Among his many accomplishments is a unique database of the natural history of patients with MDS, his appreciation of eligibility restrictions for clinical trials among hematologic malignancies, and his active participation in practice-changing clinical trials for elderly patients with AML and MDS.

The 62nd Annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting will take place virtually December 5-8, 2020. The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center has compiled a list of session chairs, presentations, abstracts and papers from Cleveland-based institutions including Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University. We wish the best of luck to all presenters and attendees! 

The 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium will take place virtually December 8-11. Drawing an international audience of academic and private physicians and researchers, the symposium is designed to provide state-of-the-art information on the experimental biology, etiology, prevention, diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer and premalignant breast disease. The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC) has compiled a list of spotlight sessions and posters featuring Cleveland-based institutions including Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University. We wish the best of luck to all presenters and attendees!

From Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute: Cleveland Clinic data scientist Daniel Rotroff, PhD, and anesthesiologist Joseph Foss, MD, have received a nearly five million dollar grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to identify biomarkers that can help physicians determine which cancer patients are most likely to develop a chemotherapy-associated pain condition.

“The ultimate utility of our study findings, we hope, will be to help physicians deliver more personalized therapies to patients living with cancer,” said Dr. Rotroff, assistant staff in the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, “and to improve patients’ quality of life during and after treatment.” Dr. Rotroff is a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center's Cancer Prevention, Control & Population Research Program.

The Center for Immunotherapy and Precision Immuno-Oncology at Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute is seeking qualified candidates for various roles. CITI has open full time positions at all academic levels for candidates who have expertise in immuno-oncology, immunotherapy, immunology, or immunogenomics. The center is also seeking a Program Head for Cell Therapy Developmental Therapeutics and Faculty in Immuno-Oncology focused on Cell Therapy, as well as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Timothy Chan, MD, PhD. CITI is also hiring a Research Department Analyst.

The Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Computer & Data Sciences in the Case School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) are inviting applications for a mid-level (tenured/tenure-track) faculty position in the area of artificial intelligence and medical imaging. The successful candidate will be jointly appointed and will also be affiliated with the Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics (CCIPD).

Registration is now open for a new course providing a comprehensive overview of cancer biology. PHRM/PATH 520 The Cellular and Molecular Hallmarks of Cancer is led by expert faculty Amar Desai, PhD and Khalid Sossey-Alaoui, PhD. The course will allow students to:

A course in cell biology and a course in molecular biology are recommended for preparation. Additional course details are available in the university's General Bulletin.

The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center requests applications for Cancer Data Sciences pilot projects. Cancer Data Sciences will serve as a discipline in the Case CCC to standardize and organize data for optimal use and leverage advanced analytic approaches to enable independent and synergistic research for basic, clinical, population and translation sciences. Pilot applications should focus on driving new analytical capabilities, developing novel algorithms in order to mine, organize, and standardize cancer data as well as utilizing data sciences approaches to extract knowledge from complex, multi-level cancer data for maximal impact.

The Mary Kay Foundation is accepting applications for grants for translational research in ovarian, uterine, breast, or cervical cancer. Only one individual at Case Western Reserve University (including University Hospitals researchers with CWRU appointments) will be nominated to submit a full application. Case Comprehensive Cancer Center members who are appointed through UH or CWRU should apply to THIS internal competition. CCF applicants should apply internally here by Dec 1.

Grants up to $100,000 total costs ($86,956 direct costs with a 15% IDC rate), to be used over one or two years. PIs must have a full-time, independent, faculty appointment.

Case Comprehensive Cancer Center leadership will review all applicants. Selected nominees will work with their department research administrators and Case CCC administration to submit full applications to the sponsor before February 5, 2021.