The campus community is invited to the third candidate forum for the director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer on Tuesday, June 25.
The forum, which will run from noon to 1 p.m., in the Yanney Conference Room of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, will feature Edward Chu, M.D., professor of medicine and pharmacology and chemical biology, chief of the division of hematology-oncology, and deputy director of the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center (HCC), based in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Following a brief presentation, titled “Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center: Vision for the Future,” Dr. Chu will take part in a question-and-answer session.
Dr. Chu serves as co-leader of the HCC Cancer Therapeutics Program, which is one of the main research programs of the cancer center, and he is director and PI of the Phase I Program, which is one of only 11 centers in the U.S. to be funded by the National Cancer Institute.
Dr. Chu specializes in the treatment of colorectal and GI cancers. His clinical and translational research efforts have focused on identifying novel drugs and combination regimens for colorectal cancer and other GI cancers. In particular, he has focused on developing early-phase I/II clinical trials. He also has a strong interest in integrating Chinese herbal medicine with standard cancer chemotherapy with the goal of enhancing clinical activity and reducing the toxicity associated with chemotherapy.
His basic research interests have focused on characterization of the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of cellular drug resistance in the treatment of colorectal cancer, especially as it relates to the fluoropyrimidine class of anticancer agents. His research group was the first to identify translational autoregulation as a novel regulatory mechanism in eukaryotes for controlling the expression of the folate-dependent enzymes, thymidylate synthase and dihydrofolate reductase. More recently, his research lab has focused on identifying and developing Chinese herbal medicines as new treatments for colorectal cancer and other GI cancers.
Dr. Chu is a member of several professional and scientific associations including American Society of Clinical Oncology, European Society of Medical Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American College of Physicians. He also serves on the scientific advisory boards of several NCI-designated cancer centers, including Albert Einstein, Dartmouth, Columbia, Duke Cancer Institute, University of Southern California, Medical University of South Carolina, University of Kentucky, University of Michigan, Karmanos Cancer Institute, St. Jude’s Cancer Center, and University of Arizona, and he has served on the advisory board for the Taiwan National Cancer Institute.
Campus forum attendees may provide their feedback on the candidate at CCDirector@wittkieffer.com.
Additional candidate forums will be announced as campus visits are finalized.
Information also will be available on the UNMC Leadership Searches page.