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Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center names breast cancer research program leader
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Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD, has been named coleader of the breast cancer research program, director of precision oncology and associate director for translational research at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
Park — whose appointment will take effect Sept. 1 — also will serve as professor of medicine.
He succeeds Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, who left Vanderbilt to become director of Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and associate dean of oncology programs at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
“Vanderbilt is already a world-renowned institution and is well known for its innovative programs in cancer research,” Park said in a press release. “I am thrilled and humbled to be given the opportunity to help co-lead the breast cancer research program [with Ingrid A. Mayer, MD, MSCI] and lead the precision oncology effort that will help patients through molecular analyses and interpretation of their cancer DNA.”
Park has been on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University since 2002. He serves as professor of oncology in the breast and ovarian cancer program, associate director for research training and education, and member of the executive oversight committee at Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. He also is associate dean for postdoctoral affairs for Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Park has developed expertise in molecular targets for cancer, including circulating plasma tumor DNA as biomarkers for detecting residual disease. His research also focuses on PIK3CA gene mutations and their relevance to breast cancer.
“Ben Ho Park is an exceptional physician-scientist who is internationally known for his discoveries in molecular oncology and breast cancer research,” Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, executive vice president for research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, said in the release. “He has spearheaded some of the seminal research in breast cancer genetics and is a pioneer in developing approaches for studying circulating plasma tumor DNA and use of these liquid biopsies for alignment of patients with therapies for cancer.”