I have been at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) since 2002 and lead a collaborative team for stem cell transplantation.  I also participate in patient care and clinical research relating to leukemias, lymphomas, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma.

I work closely with colleagues at CINJ including those within the leukemia, lymphoma and hematological malignancies program to provide patients with comprehensive evaluation and to educate them about their treatment options. My major interests are in leukemias and lymphomas, and understanding the mechanism of their disease and treatment.  I am particularly interested in hematological problems relating to transplantation, bone marrow and lymph node disease.

My education was a bachelor’s degree in 1956 from Harvard University and an MD with honors in 1961 from New York University.  I did my internal medicine training from 1963 to 1965 at Yale New Haven Medical Center.  I went on to do hematological research at the National Institutes of Health where I studied lymphocyte growth in normal and leukemic situations.  That was followed with a fellowship in hematology at the Tufts New England Medical Center.  Subsequently I continued my research in leukemia lymphoma at the Mount Sinai Medical School in New York.  In 1980 I became chairman of the Department of Medicine and directed the oncology hematology programs in teaching and research at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey. 

I believe that certain cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia, when resistant to cure by chemotherapy or radiation, may be definitively treated by harnessing the immune system to kill off these malignant cells.  We have been successful in many cases.  Bone marrow transplantation is an example of how an adopted immune system can rid a resistant malignancy from a patient.

With the resources available only at a National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer center we are able to translate research findings and directly apply them to patient therapies. Currently our team at CINJ is studying optimal treatments for leukemia and lymphoma and the prevention of graft versus host disease in marrow transplantation.

I am a former board chair, current board member and serve in a supervisory role at the Cord Blood Bank of New Jersey situated at Community Blood Services in Paramus, New Jersey.  This is the designated Cord Blood Bank for the state of New Jersey and we have federal grants to support this program.  I am the author or co-author of dozens of publications in my field and serve as a certified inspector for the FACT organization, which certifies bone marrow transplantation programs around the country.