For Release: November 12, 2010
Contact:
Steve Bjerklie, Communications Coordinator (603) 653-9056 Steven.P.Bjerklie@Hitchcock.ORG
Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD, Is New Chair of Scientific Counselors Board for NCI
Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD
Lebanon, N.H.—Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD, a professor at Dartmouth Medical School and a leader at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center, is the new chair of the influential National Cancer Institute (NCI) Board of Scientific Counselors for Clinical Sciences and Epidemiology. Dr. Dmitrovsky will guide the 22-member Board of physicians and scientists from cancer centers and universities around the country as it advises the director of the NCI and its scientific leadership on the progress and future direction of cancer-related research programs.
"It's an honor to be asked to serve the national cancer care and cancer research communities to help combat this terrible disease," Dmitrovsky said. "The Board helps NCI leadership make the best use of precious research funds."
"Ethan's chairmanship of the NCI Board of Scientific Counselors reflects recognition of his outstanding career as a research scientist and oncologist," said Mark Israel, MD, Director of Norris Cotton Cancer Center. "He is a superb choice to lead the Board in making decisions that will be critical to cancer research for decades to come. We're enormously proud of Ethan's association with the Cancer Center and Dartmouth Medical School, and now of this chairmanship."
Dr. Dmitrovsky described the Board as a key decision-making point in moving research from the laboratory to the clinic. "The Board's members are all participants in translational research at the national level," he commented. Translational research - which helps basic research become effective medical practice and therapies - is a particular interest for Dr. Dmitrovsky. "This NCI Board responsibility is an opportunity for me to serve the broader interests of cancer care and research," he said.
"Ethan's scientific accomplishments and his credibility with his peers make him exceptionally well-suited to take on this role on the NCI Board of Scientific Counselors," said Wiley "Chip" Souba, MD, ScD, MBA, Dean of Dartmouth Medical School. "His chairmanship will ensure that the leadership of the NCI is provided with superb counsel and wisdom."
Dr. Dmitrovsky is an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor, and an Associate Director of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation and board member of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. He graduated from Harvard College and Cornell University Medical College, and completed an internal medicine residency at New York Hospital-Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. He was on the faculty at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for more than a decade before joining Dartmouth as the Andrew G. Wallace Professor. He served as chair of the Pharmacology and Toxicology Department before becoming an ACS Professor, and completed a term as acting dean of Dartmouth Medical School.
The National Cancer Institute, established in 1937, is one of 27 institutes comprising the National Institutes of Health and is the world's largest organization dedicated solely to cancer research. Approximately $5 billion of the total NIH budget of $31 billion is for the NCI. NCI supports researchers at universities and hospitals across the United States and at NCI-designated Cancer Centers, a network of facilities that not only study cancer in laboratories but also conduct research on the best ways to bring the fruits of scientific discovery to cancer patients. Norris Cotton Cancer Center, with its expansive bench-to-bedside cancer research, education, treatment, and community outreach programs, is one of just 40 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers.
Norris Cotton Cancer Center combines advanced cancer research at Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Medical School with patient-centered cancer care provided at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock regional locations in Manchester and Keene, NH, and St. Johnsbury, VT, and at 11 partner hospitals throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. It is one of 40 centers nationwide to earn the National Cancer Institute's "Comprehensive Cancer Center" designation. Learn more about Norris Cotton Cancer Center research, programs, and clinical trials online at cancer.dartmouth.edu.
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