Melanoma specialist appointed director of cancer center at Weill Cornell Medicine
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Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, FASCO, has been appointed director of Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Wolchok, a medical oncologist whose work in immunotherapy has helped to transform melanoma treatment, will begin his new role on Sept. 12.
Wolchok currently serves as chief of the immuno-oncology service and Lloyd J. Old/Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig chair in clinical investigation at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, as well as professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.
“Dr. Wolchok is a distinguished physician-scientist and an esteemed leader in oncology, whose innovative research in immunotherapy has transformed the prognosis for countless [patients with melanoma] and will undoubtedly have lasting implications for other types of cancer,” Augustine M.K. Choi, MD, Stephen and Suzanne Weiss dean of Weill Cornell Medicine, said in a press release. “His expertise and vision will be crucial as the institution enhances cancer research and treatment efforts throughout the city, providing critical care and hope to cancer patients, and building on the center’s outstanding reputation as a leader in this field.”
Wolchok will succeed Massimo Loda, MD, chair of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, who served as interim director of the cancer center since last year.
Wolchok’s research has focused on innovative immunotherapy strategies in melanoma. He played a key role in the development of ipilimumab (Yervoy, Bristol Myers Squibb) and led a global phase 3 trial of the first combination of immunotherapies intended to reactivate the immune response to melanoma.
“I am a proud physician-scientist, and neither one of those descriptors is more important than the other,” Wolchok said in the release. “At the Meyer Cancer Center, I hope to achieve a true balance, and with real-time communication between our clinicians and researchers, we will be able to achieve the highest degree of success. ...
“This is an opportunity for me to enhance the impact of my efforts so far in my career,” he added. “I’ve been proud to be a Weill Cornell Medicine faculty member throughout my time at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and this new role will allow me to learn more about the institution from the inside, build a bigger cancer team and share what I’ve learned.”
Taha Merghoub, PhD, has been appointed deputy director of Meyer Cancer Center. Merghoub, a research scientist, has been Wolchok’s scientific partner at Memorial Sloan Kettering for more than 15 years and also served as professor of immunology research in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Merghoub will lead a laboratory at Weill Cornell that investigates the development of immune-based therapies to treat cancer.
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