Newswise — Agustin Garcia, M.D., has been appointed as Director of Breast Cancer Research at the Women's Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Garcia served as Director of the Clinical Investigation Support Office at the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he also held an appointment as Visiting Associate Professor of Medicine.
Originally from Mexico, Dr. Garcia earned his Medical Degree from the Universidad Anahuac in Mexico City before completing his residency in internal medicine at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. In 1994, Dr. Garcia came to the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (USC/Norris), where he completed a Fellowship in medical oncology. He is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology.
As the Director of Breast Cancer Research at the Women's Cancer Research Institute (WCRI), Dr. Garcia's research will focus on the early detection, prevention and treatment of breast cancer. To this end, Dr. Garcia will collaborate with other physician/scientists throughout the Medical Center to bring the most innovative lab discoveries directly to women with " or at risk for " breast cancer.
"Dr. Garcia's expertise in women's cancers makes him an excellent fit for our work at WCRI," said Beth Karlan, M.D., Director of the Women's Cancer Research Institute, who also heads the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and the Gilda Radner Hereditary Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. "Under his leadership, we will further expand our program to facilitate innovative research in breast cancer that may lead to the development of targeted therapies and new cancer screening tools." Dr. Garcia's interest in finding better ways to detect and treat women's cancers began during his Fellowship at USC, when he learned that ovarian cancer " the most deadly of women's cancers " had fewer treatment options and no optimal screening tests to detect it in its earliest stages. Thus, he undertook a special training program in gynecologic cancer at the University of Mississippi, where, as part of the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG), was involved in developing clinical trials evaluating the use of new chemotherapy drugs for the treatment of women's cancer.
Building on this research, Dr. Garcia returned to USC and, over the next several years, started several clinical trials to investigate the effectiveness of new chemotherapy drugs to treat both advanced breast and ovarian cancer. Specifically, his research looked at ways to optimize chemotherapy for patients with tumors that were resistant to treatment. Along these lines, Dr. Garcia's research has also looked to identify specific molecular markers in tumors, that could shed light on why certain drugs work in some patients, but not in others.
One of Dr. Garcia's major research interests is the development of new targeted therapies with novel mechanisms of action in breast and ovarian cancer. He is the Principal Investigator of several clinical trials sponsored by the California Cancer Consortium and the Gynecologic Oncology Group.
Dr. Garcia is a member of the Gynecologic Oncology Group, the Southwest Oncology Group and is a member of numerous other medical societies. He is also the Associate Editor for Women's Oncology Review and has published numerous articles and authored several book chapters on the subject of women's cancers. He lectures regularly throughout the United States.
The Women's Cancer Research Institute (WCRI) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was established through a generous endowment provided by the Cedars-Sinai Research for Women's Cancers support group. The institute is a multidisciplinary program that is working to eradicate cancer as a threat to women through research, education, early detection and prevention. By fostering collaborative research between scientists and physicians at Cedars-Sinai, WCRI aims to hasten the delivery of the most innovative laboratory discoveries directly to women with breast and/or gynecologic cancers.
RSS