National Cancer Researcher Joins Pitt School of Medicine

PITTSBURGH – Internationally renowned surgeon Norman Wolmark, M.D., F.A.C.S., has been recruited to UPMC Hillman Cancer Center as director of National Cancer Institute (NCI) cooperative group clinical trials and professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 

Wolmark has spent decades conducting groundbreaking research and early clinical trials in the treatment of breast and bowel cancers. Much of his early studies were conducted at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh alongside Bernard Fisher, M.D., University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Service Professor of Surgery and founder of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), a clinical trials cooperative group supported since its inception in 1957 by the NCI.

Wolmark serves as chairman of the NSABP Foundation and chair and contact principal investigator of the NCI-funded NRG Oncology, an oncologic research organization that combines the NSABP, the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG).

“I look forward to applying the acclaimed expertise in precision medicine and genomic research currently available at the University of Pittsburgh to the clinical trials of the NSABP Foundation,” said Wolmark. 

“Dr. Wolmark brings unparalleled expertise as an internationally known clinical researcher and principal investigator in multiple large, practice-changing trials in breast cancer,” said Robert Ferris M.D., Ph.D., director of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. “With his guidance and collaboration, we expect to further expand our extensive clinical trials portfolio, collaborate more closely with the NSABP, and reach more patients with breast and gastrointestinal cancers within the vast UPMC Hillman Cancer Center network of hospitals and treatment facilities.”

At the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago this month, Wolmark was among a select few cancer researchers to receive a 2019 ASCO Special Award. Wolmark received the Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award, which recognizes an active clinical and/or translational researcher with a distinguished record of accomplishments in advancing the field of breast cancer and with exceptional mentoring abilities.

Wolmark is a member of a number of professional associations and organizations, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association of Cancer Research and the American Surgical Association. He has published more than 400 scientific journal articles and book chapters and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, JAMA and Lancet.