GASTROINTESTINAL CANCER PROGRAM The Gastrointestinal (Gl) Cancer Program was one of the original programs in Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center. It comprises sixteen cancer center faculty who represent eight departments within the School of Medicine (Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Pathology;Cancer Biology;Family Medicine;Internal Medicine; Medical Oncology;Radiology;and Pharmacology And Experimental Therapeutics;Surgery;) and the Christiana Care Health System (Helen F. Graham Cancer Center). Faculty hold appointments in five graduate programs in the School of Medicine (Cell Biology;Biochemistry;Genetics;Immunology;Molecular Pharmacology). Their work is supported by 4.4 million in peer-reviewed funding (3.7 million from NCI). In the last funding period, program members had 401 publications of which 5% are intra-programmmatic and 17% are inter-programmatic. The overarching goal of this multidisciplinary program is to define the fundamental mechanisms underlying Gl malignancies so that they may be translated into diagnostic and therapeutic innovations in managing cancer in patients and populations. Program members pursue parallel efforts organized vertically along organ-based disease processes and horizontally from discovery through translation and clinical development, to application. Members employ common and collaborative experimental paradigms with the goals of (1) defining previously unappreciated molecular, genetic, and epigenetic mechanisms underlying organ-based tumorigenesis, (2) translating defined mechanism-based components into novel in vitro and in vivo diagnostic tools that will enable early detection, prognosis, prediction, risk-stratification, and prevention in Gl malignancies, (3) exploiting novel mechanisms to define molecularly targeted therapeutic approaches for cancer prevention, treatment, and control, (4) advancing novel discoveries from program member laboratories into development as clinical trials, and (5) ultimately advancing diagnostic and therapeutic modalities which have been successful in clinical development into evidence-based practice for cancer prevention and control across populations. Members are interactive and cohesive. Under the direction of the program leader and co-leader, members coordinate planning, new research directions, and interactions with other research programs in the cancer center. Over the past 6 years, the faculty have gained momentum and built their reputation, reflecting remarkable innovation in disease diagnosis and management.
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