07
February
2008
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01:00 AM
America/Los_Angeles

Steven Piantadosi, MD, PhD Named Inaugural Phase One Foundation Chair In Cancer Research At February 6 Ceremony

Los Angeles - February 7, 2008 - Internationally renowned cancer researcher Steven Piantadosi, MD, PhD, was named the inaugural Phase ONE Foundation Endowed Chair at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Feb. 6. This gift will fund his directorship as well as cancer research at Cedars-Sinai.

Piantadosi was named director of Cedars-Sinai’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute in 2007. His role is to lead the medical center’s programs in cancer research, treatment and education, as well as lead new initiatives that unite Cedars-Sinai’s physicians and researchers from different specialties for innovative clinical and scientific collaborations. The Phase ONE Foundation Endowed Chair will fund these efforts.

Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Piantadosi was professor of oncology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of biostatistics at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.

He was also professor of biostatistics and professor of epidemiology at the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. A prolific researcher, he is the author of the textbook Clinical Trials: A Methodologic Perspective, which is widely considered a classic text for designing cancer clinical trials and has published more than 230 peer-reviewed scientific articles.

About the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute
The Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center focuses on combining compassionate, high-quality patient-centered care with pioneering cancer research. The institute recently opened a Gamma Knife Center, which offers a non-invasive alternative for many brain cancer patients for whom traditional brain surgery is not an option.

Among the centers that are part of the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute are the Cedars-Sinai Outpatient Cancer Center, Women’s Cancer Research Institute, Saul & Joyce Brandman Breast Center and Louis Warschaw Prostate Cancer Center.

The Phase ONE Foundation
The Phase ONE Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Phase I clinical research and treatment programs for patients with cancer. Founded in 2000 by Stacy and Alberto Valner with a group of friends who had all been affected by a diagnosis of cancer, the foundation supports early-stage development for new cancer therapies that otherwise might not receive funding. In 2007, Phase ONE’s largest gift to date went to establishing an endowed chair to support the directorship of the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai, held by Steven Piantadosi, MD, PhD. The institute provides cutting edge cancer clinical trials and research, in addition to state-of-the-art patient care. Its research efforts are focused on developing breakthroughs that translate as efficiently as possible into new methods for the treatment of cancers of the lung, brain, colon, prostate, pancreas, breast, spine, ovaries, pituitary, thyroid and blood system, plus melanoma and other cancers.