Leading cancer researcher Lewis C. Cantley, PhD, has been named Director of the newly established Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. According to Weill Cornell Medical College’s new Dean, Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s CEO, Steven J. Corwin, MD, the recruitment and appointment of Dr. Cantley marks a critical step in the transformation and acceleration of personalized translational medicine, research, and clinical care for cancer patients at the two facilities on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Dr. Cantley is the William Bosworth Castle Chair in Medicine and Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard and Director of the Cancer Center and Chief of the Division of Signal Transduction at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston. He is one of the world’s preeminent scientists in both basic and clinical research, having made significant advances stemming from his discovery of the signaling pathway phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) in the mid-1980s. For the past 3 decades, has worked to identify new treatments for cancers that result from defects in the pathway.
New Role
As Director, Dr. Cantley will forge the Cancer Center into a collaborative, multidisciplinary research enterprise focused on gathering Weill Cornell’s basic, translational, and clinical research expertise under one umbrella, across faculty and departments, and converting cancer research breakthroughs into novel therapies that offer patients immediate access to the latest advanced care available and hope for the future.
“We are honored and delighted to have Dr. Cantley, a pioneering researcher in the field of cancer, join us to lead the new Cancer Center,” said Dr. Glimcher, who is Stephen and Suzanne Weill Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and Provost for Medical Affairs at Cornell University.
“We are thrilled about the formation of this new Cancer Center, as it will propel us to greater heights in cancer research and patient-centered clinical care,” said Dr. Corwin. “Together with Weill Cornell Medical College, we are committed to making NewYork-Presbyterian the preeminent academic medical center for cancer care in the country. The recruitment of Dr. Cantley puts us one step closer to making that goal a reality.” ■
