Pasche Named UAB Director of Hematology/Oncology, Associate Director of UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center

Dr. Boris Pasche is the new director of the division of hematology/oncology and associate director for translational research in the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Edward Abraham, chairman of the UAB Department of Medicine, and Dr. Edward Partridge, director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, made the announcement. Pasche will join UAB on Sept. 1.

    July 28, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Dr. Boris Pasche is the new director of the division of hematology/oncology and associate director for translational research in the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Edward Abraham, chairman of the UAB Department of Medicine, and Dr. Edward Partridge, director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, made the announcement. Pasche will join UAB on Sept. 1.

"Dr. Pasche is internationally recognized for his basic and clinical research on critically important issues relating to cancer risk and treatment," said Dr. Abraham. "His work on the genetics and treatment of cancer will help our cancer center sustain its rankings as one of the nation's best."

Dr. Pasche is an associate professor of medicine and director of the cancer genetics program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. He also is the leader of the Cancer Genes and Molecular Targeting Program at Northwestern's Cancer Center.

Dr. Pasche received medical degrees from both the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. He also earned a Ph.D. from the Karolinska Institute. His internship and medical residency were at The New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center and his fellowship in hematology/oncology was at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the New York Hospital, Cornell University Medical College. After completing his fellowship, Dr. Pasche remained at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for three years and then moved to Northwestern University.

Dr. Pasche serves on the NCI Cancer Genetics study section. He is contributing editor at the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and also editor of The Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Pasche is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. His primary research interests are focused on the genetics of cancer, and he presently has two NIH grants relating to TGF-β polymorphisms and breast and colon cancer.

"Dr. Pasche will provide the cancer center with the leadership needed to take scientific findings and move them rapidly to clinical settings," said Dr. Partridge. "His skill as a researcher in both clinical and basic science provides Dr. Pasche with the broad perspective necessary to fulfill our mission of benefitting patients with our research."

Dr. Abraham added, "I am extremely appreciative of Dr. Lisle Nabell's extraordinary effort and dedication as interim division director. The maintenance of investigational, clinical, and educational strength in the division during this transitional period is a tremendous tribute to Lisle's leadership."