CancerCARE News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

World-renowned cancer geneticist Carlo M. Croce, M.D., who has been director of Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center since 1991, has accepted the position of director of the Institute of Genetics and the position of director of the Human Cancer Genetics Program at Ohio State University. Dr. Croce will also chair the university's department of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics.

The Jefferson Cancer Institute - and subsequently the Kimmel Cancer Institute – was established in 1991 when Dr. Croce joined Jefferson. Under Dr. Croce’s guidance, the KCC has been among a select few cancer centers in the country to receive a prestigious National Cancer Institute clinical cancer center designation.

“Carlo Croce has been instrumental in ushering in a new era of cancer research excellence at Jefferson,” says Jefferson Medical College Dean Thomas Nasca, M.D.

"This was an extremely difficult decision to make,” says Dr. Croce, who is also stepping down as chair of Jefferson's Department of Microbiology and Immunology. “Ohio State has offered me an extraordinary opportunity to continue and expand my research. I’m proud of the accomplishments of my research group and all of the cancer researchers at Jefferson. We have established a strong framework to move the Kimmel Cancer Center forward.”

Dr. Croce and his research team established several state-of-the-art research facilities for cancer research, including those involved in proteomics, DNA sequencing and imaging. Dean Nasca states that these facilities will continue to serve as a foundation for Kimmel Cancer Center research efforts. Under Dr. Croce’s leadership, the cancer center has also been extremely successful in winning extensive NIH support for its predoctoral and postdoctoral training programs. These activities will also continue, notes James Keen, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Graduate Studies.

Dr. Croce has been a pioneer in understanding the genetic causes of cancer. He has elucidated the roles of chromosome alterations in human leukemias and lymphomas and identified several genes involved in the development of cancers. He is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences and has won numerous awards, including two Outstanding Investigator Awards from the National Cancer Institute, the General Motors Research Foundation Charles S. Mott Prize, The Pasarow Award, the John Scott Award, and the American Association for Cancer Research-Pezcoller International Award.

Dr. Nasca will appoint an interim Kimmel Cancer Center director within the next several weeks. A search committee will be formed for both the position of director as well as chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.

“We thank him for his leadership and stellar contributions in helping Jefferson continue to develop its world class cancer research programs, and wish him well in the future,” says Dr. Nasca.