Dr. Edward Chu is a Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology, and Deputy Director at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Dr.Chu was also recently named Director of the National Cancer Institute-designated Albert Einstein Cancer Center, Vice President for Cancer Medicine at Montefiore Medicine, Professor of Medicine and of Molecular Pharmacology; and will hold the Carol and Roger Einiger Professorship of Cancer Medicine at Einstein. He received his MD degree from Brown University, where he also completed his residency training in Internal Medicine Residency. He then went to the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD for fellowship training in Medical Oncology. Following completion of his fellowship, he remained at the NCI as a Senior Clinical Investigator. In 1996, he was recruited as a Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the Yale University School of Medicine where he assumed the positions of Director of the VACT Cancer Center, Associate Director of the Yale Cancer Center, and co-Director of the Developmental Therapeutics Program at the Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Chu is well-known for his basic research that has investigated the determinants of resistance to the fluoropyrimidine class of anticancer agents. In particular, his group has made seminal observations on the regulation of expression of thymidylate synthase, a critical target in cancer chemotherapy, with specific focus on elucidating novel translational regulatory mechanisms. In addition, his group is actively involved in developing novel compounds and strategies for the treatment of colorectal cancer as well as other human malignancies. He has worked closely with a number of drug companies to develop novel agents, and these companies include Roche, Bristol-MyersSquibb, Astra Zeneca, Eli Lilly, Pharmacia, GlaxoSmithKline, Imclone, Vion, and Tularik. He serves on the scientific advisory boards of Advrx Pharmaceuticals, Celator, Etex, Phytoceutica, and Eximias, all of which are drug development companies. He is the author of the Physicians’ Cancer Chemotherapy Drug Manual which includes a comprehensive review of all of the main drugs and drug regimens currently used in clinical practice for oncology. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Clinical Colorectal Cancer journal and is the Chairman of the International Colorectal Congress, which is an annual international meeting focused on management and treatment of colorectal cancer.
Dr. DeVita is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. He is the former Director of the National Cancer Institute and developed the cure for Hodgkin’s Disease and other lymphomas. He is the Director Emeritus at the Yale Cancer Center and has received numerous awards including the Mary and Albert Lasker Prize, the Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society, the first Pezcoller Award from the European School of Oncology, the Armand Hammer Cancer Prize and the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal. He recently was recognized with the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Award from the Leukemia Society of America and was the recipient of the first Saul Rosenberg Research Award from the Lymphoma Research Foundation of America. Dr. DeVita also served as co-chair of the National Cancer Legislative Advisory Committee for revising the National Cancer Act of 1971.