Newswise — (New York, NY – March 12, 2019) — Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, an internationally-renowned authority on lung cancer treatment and research, has joined Mount Sinai Health System as Executive Director of the newly-created Center for Thoracic Oncology in The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai and the Richard M. Stein, MD, Joe Lowe and Louis Price Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He will also be the Associate Director of Biomarker Discovery for The Tisch Cancer Institute.

Dr. Hirsch’s career in lung cancer research spans more than 25 years and includes translational research, targeted therapies, and early detection of lung cancer. His research has helped identify and validate prognostic markers for lung cancer outcomes and biomarkers for personalized lung cancer therapies that illustrate how these therapies work and who is most likely to benefit from them.

The new Center will give lung cancer patients access to fully-coordinated care that smoothly provides all the services needed—screening, diagnostics, pharmaceutical, surgical, nutrition, psychological and social supportive services—for the best possible outcome. Patient care will be seamless to make treatment as easy as possible.

The Center will expand Mount Sinai’s already-renowned lung cancer screening program to find lung cancer early—a critical time that gives patients the best chance at a cure.  Patients will also have access to the latest research and clinical trials to give them the highest-quality personalized care available.

“We are very proud that Dr. Hirsch has decided to join us to lead our efforts in lung cancer. The new Center is an exciting step forward for coordinating a multidisciplinary approach for lung cancer and builds on a strong foundation already here,” said Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD, Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai, Chair of Oncological Sciences and Ward-Coleman Professor in Cancer Research of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Dr. Hirsch comes to Mount Sinai from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, where he was the Associate Director for the University of Colorado Cancer Center and a Professor of Medicine and Pathology. While there, he was the Chief Executive Officer of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), the only global organization dedicated solely to the study of lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies, and led the organization to significant growth.

“Mount Sinai is poised to make major advances in the early diagnosis of lung cancer and to better treat advanced disease, in particular by understanding how to harness the immune system to attack cancer cells,” said William Oh, MD, Chief of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Deputy Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai and the Ezra M. Greenspan, M.D. Professor in Clinical Cancer Care Therapeutics.

Dr. Hirsch, who has published about 400 peer-reviewed scientific articles, has served on the National Cancer Institute’s Steering Committee for Thoracic Malignancies Program and is currently the Co-Chair for Southwest Oncology Group’s Lung Cancer Translational Research Committee.

“Dr. Hirsch’s career in cancer research has advanced the treatment for lung cancer with key developments in early detection, translational research and targeted therapies,” said Steven J. Burakoff, Dean for Cancer Innovation at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai, Chief of Pediatric Oncology and Lillian and Henry Stratton Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine. “We are driven to continue to develop more effective therapy for a complex disease that takes so many lives every year.”  

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system encompassing (with the addition of South Nassau Communities Hospital) eight hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The Health System includes approximately 7,480 primary and specialty care physicians; 11 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 410 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. The Icahn School of Medicine is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools", aligned with a U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" Hospital, No. 12 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding, and among the top 10 most innovative research institutions as ranked by the journal Nature in its Nature Innovation Index. This reflects a special level of excellence in education, clinical practice, and research. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in six other specialties in the 2018-2019 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked nationally in five out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 11th nationally for Ophthalmology and 44th for Ear, Nose, and Throat. Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's, Mount Sinai West, and South Nassau Communities Hospital are ranked regionally.

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