Mark Gilbert, M.D. To Join the NCI Center for Cancer Research
As Chief of Neuro-Oncology
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Mark Gilbert, M.D. as a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Neuro-Oncology Branch (NOB) in the Center for Cancer Research (CCR), National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Gilbert’s appointment is being made in partnership with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) where Dr. Gilbert will have an adjunct appointment to facilitate close collaborations.
Dr. Gilbert received his Medical Doctorate (MD) degree in medicine from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in 1982 (Alpha Omega Alpha). At JHU, he completed residencies in internal medicine and neurology and fellowship training in both neurology and neuro-oncology. In 2000, after serving on the faculties of the University of Pittsburgh and Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Gilbert joined the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as Deputy Chair of the Department of Neuro-oncology. In 2005, he was appointed as Director of the Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative, a multi-center clinical trials consortium. In 2009, Dr. Gilbert received the Blanche Bender Endowed Professorship in Cancer Research. Recently he was named the Co-Chair of the Brain Tumor Committee in the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG). Dr. Gilbert is also the founder and leader of the Collaborative Ependymoma Research Network (CERN), a consortium studying ependymoma, a rare central nervous system cancer, by supporting basic research, clinical trials, patient outcomes research and educational efforts in North America and Europe.
Dr. Gilbert brings to the NCI a proven track record of developing and leading large-scale, comprehensive, hypothesis-based clinical trials focused on finding treatments for malignant brain tumors. His clinical trial on the efficacy of bevacizumab as a therapeutic for patients with newly-diagnosed glioblastoma established a new benchmark by successfully incorporating both real-time tumor analysis and patient outcomes measures, including symptom burden, neurocognitive testing and health-related quality of life. Dr. Gilbert arrives at the NCI intramural program with a vision to build a highly collaborative, robust translational research program centered on finding treatments for central nervous system tumors where basic research observations will be rapidly translated into pre-clinical testing and then hypothesis-based clinical research trials, including important correlative studies. Clinical trials will be focused on early stage testing of novel agents and evaluation of novel clinical trial designs and imaging paradigms, as well as examination of the impact of disease and treatment on cognitive function, symptom burden and quality of life. The NINDS will be an important partner in both clinical care and clinical/translational research, especially in areas of neurosurgery, molecular neuropathology, neuroimaging and neuro-immunology.
The approval of this position successfully concludes a lengthy international search and we are indebted to committee chairman, Dr. Ron Gress, Chief, Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, and many others on the search committee who participated in this recruitment. Dr. Gress has also served as the acting co-branch chief with Bill Dahut, M.D., CCR Clinical Director.We are also grateful to the members of NOB, who have kept key components of the branch running smoothly during this uncertain time.
Dr. Gilbert is expected to officially join us on November 30, 2014. We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Gilbert join the NCI and have every confidence that his collaborative leadership and clear vision will lead to progress against this challenging disease and become strength of the NIH intramural program and the national effort to combat cancer.
Robert H. Wiltrout, Ph.D., Director, CCR
Lee J. Helman, M.D., Scientific Director for Clinical Research, CCR