Jeffrey Sosman, MD, melanoma expert and researcher, will join the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University as Co-Leader of the Translational Research in Solid Tumors (TRIST) Program and Director of the Melanoma Program. He will also serve as Director for Faculty Development at the Lurie Cancer Center. Dr. Sosman has been appointed Professor of Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine.
Jeffrey Sosman, MD
The overall goal of the Northwestern TRIST Program is to coordinate and enhance the interactions among researchers in the area of solid cancers at Northwestern University. The program consists of accomplished faculty conducting translational studies centered on the themes of molecular and cell biology; early diagnosis; prognosis; and risk factors, as well as therapeutics and treatment of cancer of the aerodigestive tract and dermatologic, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and neuro-oncologic cancers.
Professional Background
Dr. Sosman joined the Lurie Cancer Center on May 1 from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, where he was the Ingram Chair for Cancer Research, Director of the Melanoma Program, and Co-Leader of the Translational Research and Interventional Oncology Program. He also received the first Mary Hendrickson-Johnson American Cancer Society Melanoma Research Professorship in 2009, which he continues to hold through 2018.
Dr. Sosman is widely recognized for his initiatives to bring translational medicine to melanoma therapy. His research includes the study of this most deadly form of skin cancer that has seen great breakthroughs in both targeted therapy and immune-based therapy in recent years.
Dr. Sosman has been a key contributor to many of the seminal trials in melanoma, which led to approval of at least eight new therapeutic agents for melanoma in the past 5 years. He continues to study new investigational agents to further increase treatment options for patients with melanoma. He is also widely recognized for his work with malignancies other than melanoma, such as renal cell carcinoma.
The trials conducted by Dr. Sosman frequently include a strong translational component centered on immunotherapy or on targeted therapy aimed at mutated or overexpressed oncogenes. He has been the lead author or coauthor on numerous high-impact papers on melanoma and was named one of the “Hottest Scientific Researchers” in 2013 by Thomson Reuters ScienceWatch. ■
