At the time of the last site visit, a new senior leadership position of Deputy Director had just been approved in response to the continued growth of the Cancer Center and anticipated significant expansion of its facilities. As noted above, as planning evolved for recruitment to this position, duties and responsibilities were shifted to focus more heavily on research functions. The position of Deputy Director reports to the Director and is responsible for oversight of the Cancer Center's shared resources facilities, evaluation of the need for and development of new shared facilities, research space planning and allocation, and leadership for faculty recruitment. In addition, the Deputy Director serves on the Cancer Center's Executive Committee and Leadership Group and represents the Cancer Center on the Research Council of the Feinberg School of Medicine. The Deputy Director, who holds a primary appointment in the Cancer Center, is integrally involved in all aspects of Center operations and functions as the senior leader in the Director's absence.

In May, 2002 Leonidas C. Platanias MD, PhD, a clinician scientist, was recruited from the University of Illinois at Chicago to fill this new position in the Cancer Center. A native of Greece, Dr. Platanias graduated from the University of Patras Medical School in Greece. He served as a Fogarty Fellow in the Clinical Hematology Branch of the National Institutes of Health, completed residency training in internal medicine at the State University of New York, and a hematology/oncology fellowship at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining Northwestern, Dr. Platanias was the Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In November 2002, Dr. Platanias was named the Jesse, Sara, Andrew, Abigail, Benjamin and Elizabeth Lurie Professor of Oncology, honoring the children of Northwestern University Trustee Ann Lurie and her late husband, Robert. In addition to his duties as Deputy Director he continues his molecular biology and biochemistry research focused on signaling pathways in cancer cells and efforts to develop novel treatments for malignancies by targeting such pathways. Dr. Platanias is well funded, currently being the principal investigator of six active grants. He has four NCI grants (1) RO1 (CA121192): Arsenic Trioxide Pathways in APL (2006-2011), (2) RO1 (CA077816): Signal Transduction of Type 1 Interferons in Malignant Cells (2002-2007), (3) RO1 (CA100579): Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase Pathways in Cytokine Signaling (2005-2009), (4) RO1 (CA 094079): Mechanisms of Action of IFN in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (2002-2007); a USAMRMC grant (DAMD17-03-1-0254): MAP Kinase Pathways as Therapeutic Targets in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (2003-2006); and a VA MERIT Award: Mechanisms of Action of RA in APL Cells (2004-2008). In addition, he also holds a subaward on another RO1 grant based at the Albert Einstein Medical Center. Dr. Platanias is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Leukemia and Lymphoma, and Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research where he serves as an Associate Editor. Dr. Platanias has served as a member or chair in several review committees at NIH, the DOD, and the VA. He recently completed a term as a member of the Cancer Molecular Pathobiology (CAMP) study section, and he is now one of the founding members of the Molecular Oncogenesis (MONC) study section at NIH. Dr. Platanias is also an active member of the Hematologic Malignancies and HAST Programs.

Since his arrival, Dr. Platanias has assumed a very active role in the continued development of the Cancer Center. With the addition of 60,000 nsf of new laboratory space for the Cancer Center in the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center Building in 2005-2006, Dr. Platanias has provided the leadership for numerous new faculty recruitments. He has chaired or co-chaired supra-departmental search committees as part of this process. In this role, Dr. Platanias directs the Cancer Center's funds supporting faculty recruitment. These include $250,000 per year of CCSG Developmental Funds and the Zell Scholarship Funds, philanthropic funds of $500,000 per year committed for five years by a generous Cancer Center donor. Dr. Platanias is also responsible for directing the space planning and allocation for the new building as well as for the McGaw Pavilion where the Cancer Center also has research space. Dr. Platanias has the oversight of shared resource facilities in the RHLCCC and, in addition to regular individual meetings with facility directors, runs a quarterly meeting in which all facility directors for all campuses attend. He has overseen the reorganization of several of the facilities as presented in this application. Dr. Platanias is also responsible for evaluating the need for new facilities and to that end has directed the plans for developing shared resources as presented in this application as well.

Dr. Platanias is well qualified for the position of Deputy Director, and his position also provides a solid foundation for continuity of operations should a change in the directorship ever occur. While no change in the directorship is anticipated, if for some reason Dr. Rosen were unable to continue to serve, Dr. Plantanias would be eminently qualified to assume the role of interim Director of the Cancer Center while the Dean would conduct a national search for a permanent Director.

Previous Page