Dear Colleagues:
It gives us great pleasure to announce that, following a national search, Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP will join the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Lifespan hospitals, and the Division of Hematology/Oncology within the Department of Medicine and the Lifespan Cancer Institute, in January.
Dr. El-Deiry, an internationally recognized physician-scientist with expertise in cancer biology and clinical training in oncology, will serve as the inaugural director of the Brown-Lifespan Joint Program in Cancer Biology and as the inaugural Associate Dean for Oncologic Sciences at Brown University. In these roles he will work to develop a basic and translational cancer research program of national and international stature with the goal of advancing cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The program will simultaneously contribute to the training of graduate students and postgraduate fellows, including those from hematology/oncology, pathology, and pediatrics. He will work with Jack A. Elias, MD, senior vice president for health affairs and dean of medicine and biological sciences, and key stakeholders at Lifespan hospitals to catalyze and facilitate collaborative, innovative, patient-centered oncologic research across Brown and Lifespan.
Dr. El-Deiry received his medical degree and PhD from the University of Miami School of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency and medical oncology fellowship training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, where he also completed postdoctoral training with the renowned Bert Vogelstein, MD. He comes to us from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.
In Dr. El-Deiry, we believe we have found the ideal physician-scientist leader and role model for our students and fellows. As a practicing oncologist, and specialist in gastrointestinal oncology, and one who initiates clinical trials based on laboratory discoveries, we look forward to seeing the impact of cancer research in the clinic.
Dr. El-Deiry is an American Cancer Society Research Professor and, since 2014, has served as deputy director for translational research and co-leader of the Molecular Therapeutics Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Prior to that, he served as the chief of Hematology/Oncology and associate director of the Cancer Institute at Penn State University, and as a tenured professor of medicine, genetics, and pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and co-program leader at the Abramson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. El-Deiry has published over 280 papers, has an H index of 110, and is the principal investigator on two National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants and several industry grants supporting clinical trials. He has been continuously funded by the National Cancer Institute for two decades and currently serves as the chair of an NIH Study Section.
Dr. El-Deiry is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Interurban Clinical Club (President, 2013-2014), and the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Dr. El-Deiry’s laboratory will be located in the 70 Ship Street building and he will participate in the clinical and teaching activities of the pathology and hematology/oncology services at Lifespan. He will care for patients with colorectal cancer at the Lifespan Cancer Institute.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. El-Deiry.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Kurtis, MD, PhD
Stanley M. Aronson Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Howard Safran, MD
Chief, Hematology Oncology
Professor of Medicine