Stanton L. Gerson, MD
Stanton L. Gerson, MD, became the new President of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) during the Association’s 2016 Annual Meeting in Chicago, held October 23–25.
Dr. Gerson is the Asa and Patricia Shiverick–Jane Shiverick (Tripp) Professor of Hematological Oncology at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Director of the National Cancer Institute–Designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as Founding Director of the National Center for Regenerative Medicine and Distinguished University Professor at Case Western Reserve University. He is also Director of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in and a member of the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisors.
At the 2016 Association of American Cancer Institutes Annual Meeting, co-hosted by the Cancer Center Administrators Forum, Dr. Gerson launched his 2-year term with a presentation outlining plans for his presidential initiative, which will address a major objective of the Obama Administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative: promoting collaborations with researchers, physicians, and patients to improve patient outcomes and health-care value in the community.
“The need to facilitate this process is especially great at community points of care, where access to newer technology; decision-making expertise to handle “omics”; and other advanced diagnostics, clinical trials, or multidisciplinary care may lag behind that [which is] available at larger cancer center sites,” he explained. To meet that challenge, Dr. Gerson proposed marshalling the collaborative and synergistic knowledge and experience of the Association of American Cancer Institutes cancer centers to create a model of care that can provide access to patients currently seen in the community.
In the coming months, the Association of American Cancer Institutes will convene a steering committee that will chart the direction of Dr. Gerson’s initiative.
Dr. Gerson has been an active member of the Association for the past 14 years, including service on the Board of Directors (2007–2009). A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Gerson completed his residency and hematology and oncology fellowship training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. As a member of the faculty at Case Western Reserve University, he has been involved in the school’s stem cell, hematologic malignancies, and developmental therapeutics programs. He has received multiple National Institutes of Health grants and has published more than 236 articles, 270 abstracts, and 37 book chapters. Dr. Gerson also has received 18 patents for stem cell and drug discoveries. ■
