Newswise — BOSTON -- Manuel Hidalgo, MD, PhD, an internationally respected oncologist whose groundbreaking work in experimental cancer therapy and tumor model development has led to key advances in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, has been named Director of the Leon V. & Marilyn L. Rosenberg Clinical Cancer Center and Chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Hidalgo will oversee all BIDMC clinical cancer programs when he joins the medical center in the coming months.
A native of Spain, Hidalgo comes to BIDMC from the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (Spanish National Cancer Center) where he currently serves as Director of the Clinical Research Program and Vice Director of Translational Research. He holds faculty positions at University CEU San Pablo and Johns Hopkins University. “Manuel Hidalgo is a world leader in the testing and development of new agents for pancreatic and other solid tumor cancers,” said BIDMC President and CEO Kevin Tabb, MD. “We are privileged to have him join the accomplished clinicians and physician-scientists at the BIDMC Cancer Center.”
“Dr. Hidalgo’s expertise perfectly complements our work and mission,” said Pier Paolo Pandolfi, MD, PhD, Director of the BIDMC Cancer Center and its Cancer Research Institute. “The research platform developed by his team is now used for drug screening, biomarker development and the creation of personalized therapies. It is consistent with our approach, in which experimental drugs are tested in a ‘mouse hospital setting’ in parallel with human clinical trials.”
“I am honored to join BIDMC, which is a global leader in bringing together clinicians and scientists to promote excellence in cancer care,” said Hidalgo. “I share BIDMC’s philosophy that research and patient care inform and complement one another, and that the skill and expertise of both disciplines will be required to win the fight against all types of cancer.”
The BIDMC Cancer Center consists of multiple disciplines including medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology, radiology and pathology. Twenty-one specialty patient-care programs focus on pancreatic cancer, bone-marrow transplantation, breast cancer, prostate cancer and biologic therapy, among others. The Cancer Center, with 160 faculty and more than $70 million in annual research support, is also home to the Cancer Clinical Trials Office, where hundreds of clinical trials provide patients with access to promising new therapies.
Hidalgo received his medical degree from the University of Navarra and his PhD from the University Autonoma of Madrid. He completed a fellowship in anticancer drug development at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. In 2001, Hidalgo joined Johns Hopkins as an associate professor and in 2003, became co-director of its newly created Gastrointestinal Cancer Program. Hidalgo joined the Spanish National Cancer Center in 2009.
Hidalgo is a founder of the Pancreatic Cancer Research Team (PCRT), a private nonprofit cooperative group dedicated to rapid drug development in pancreatic cancer.
The Theodore W. and Evelyn G. Berenson Charitable Foundation has extended its generous support of the cancer programs at BIDMC.
“We are grateful to the Berenson-Allen family for their very generous support, which will help Dr. Hidalgo and the BIDMC community continue to provide exemplary cancer care to our patients and conduct visionary research that will benefit patients everywhere,” said Tabb. “Dr. Hidalgo succeeds Dr. Lowell Schnipper, an international leader in cancer care, who built and led from its inception BIDMC’s Hematology-Oncology Division,” said Mark Zeidel, MD, PhD, Chair of BIDMC’s Department of Medicine. “Through both his direct care of patients and his tireless advocacy for national patient-care initiatives, as well as his influential mentoring of BIDMC faculty, Dr. Schnipper has markedly improved the lives of thousands of cancer patients.”
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and consistently ranks as a national leader among independent hospitals in National Institutes of Health funding.
BIDMC is in the community with Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth, Anna Jaques Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Lawrence General Hospital, Signature Healthcare, Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare, Community Care Alliance and Atrius Health. BIDMC is also clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and The Jackson Laboratory. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
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