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Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD, Named Dartmouth Medical School Acting Dean

Hanover, NH - Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD, a noted cancer physician and scientist, has been appointed Acting Dean of Dartmouth Medical School, effective July 1. He succeeds John C. Baldwin, MD, who has been named Associate Provost for Health Affairs.

Dr. Dmitrovsky joined the Dartmouth Medical School faculty in 1998 as the inaugural Andrew G. Wallace Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and of Medicine and was also named Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. His research on mechanisms of human tumor cell growth and differentiation has helped advance cancer therapy and prevention. Throughout his career, Dr. Dmitrovsky, a practicing oncologist, has been a teacher and mentor for undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral fellows and faculty.

He directs an active and well-funded research program that is supported by the National Institutes of Health and several foundations. His studies focus on the role in cancer therapy and prevention of the retinoids, natural and synthetic derivatives of vitamin A. Understanding how these compounds work to induce tumor cells to mature or to suppress their growth can help lead to novel strategies to combat cancers. Dr. Dmitrovsky was the senior author of the first report in the United States showing that retinoic acid caused clinical remissions in a rare, but lethal malignancy, acute promyelocytic leukemia. He helped clone the abnormal retinoid receptor found in this leukemia and led the team that developed the molecular test used to diagnose this disease. At Dartmouth, his team found a novel retinoid mechanism linked to lung cancer prevention and recently identified a retinoid target gene that triggers cell death. This work could provide clues to new anti-cancer drugs.

His record of professional accomplishment and service is extensive. It includes young investigator awards from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as well as election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the preeminent organization for physician-scientists. Author of more than 100 publications, Dr. Dmitrovsky is a frequent invited speaker nationally and internationally. He serves on the editorial boards of major oncology journals, including the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics and as an associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Cancer. Dr. Dmitrovsky is a member of distinguished advisory and peer review panels, including the scientific advisory boards for the American Health Foundation, Lance Armstrong Foundation, Abbott Laboratories, and the Strang Cancer Prevention Center. He has served on diverse peer review committees for the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, American Association for Cancer Research and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. At Dartmouth, Dr. Dmitrovsky co-chaired the search committee that recruited Dr. Mark Israel as Director of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center and has chaired the Dartmouth College honorary degree committee.

Dr. Dmitrovsky graduated magna cum laude in biochemical sciences from Harvard College in 1976 and from Cornell University Medical College in 1980. He completed a residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital-Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, followed by training in medical and molecular oncology at the National Cancer Institute. In 1987, Dr. Dmitrovsky joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where he headed the Laboratory of Molecular Medicine and directed the NIH-funded Clinical and Molecular Oncology Training Program. Prior to his arrival at Dartmouth, Dr. Dmitrovsky was an Associate Member of Medicine at Memorial Hospital, an Associate Member in the Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Program at the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Associate Professor at Cornell University Medical College.

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