Steven T Rosen, MD, FACP
Genevieve Teuton Professor of Medicine
Director, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Feinberg School of Medicine
Research Interests:
Our laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular pathways underlying biologic therapies of cancer and in specific the hormonal and nucleoside analog treatment of hematologic malignancies. Glucocorticoids are the standard of treatment for a variety of hematologic malignancies with very little understanding of the pathways involved. We have identified glucocorticoid-regulated genes in an effort to elucidate those pathways and discover additional cellular targets. Information from these studies will be applied to understanding the glucocorticoid resistant tumor states.
A second major interest in the laboratory is to develop therapeutic approaches that are effective in glucocorticoid resistant tumors. We have identified two nucleoside analogs that induce programmed cell death in hematologic malignancies. We are further investigating the mechanism by which these compounds cause cytotoxicity in myeloma cell lines including examination of the pathways of apoptosis, the consequences of the incorporation of these nucleoside analogs into DNA and RNA and their effect on the phosphorylation of key signaling pathways in the cell. We are currently doing pre-clinical testing of these drugs to determine efficacy for the treatment of multiple myeloma with the goal of moving these drugs into the clinical arena.
Following his graduation with distinction from Northwestern University Medical School’s Six-Year Honors Program in 1976, Dr. Rosen completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern and a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Rosen’s laboratory research focuses on experimental therapeutics and hematologic malignancies. Dr. Rosen has received numerous awards and contracts and has published more than 200 scientific papers. As Director of the Cancer Center, Dr. Rosen has successfully competed for an NCI Cancer Center Support Grant, NCI grants for his laboratory research, an NCI RAID Contract grant for the development of a novel purine analog, and a grant from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America.
He serves on several editorial boards and is editor of Cancer Treatment & Research. He is a member of all major national associations that focus on oncology and has held leadership positions in the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, the American Association of Cancer Institutes and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. He serves on the advisory boards of several NCI-designated Cancer Centers, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, the Lymphoma Research Foundation and the Wendy Will Cancer Research Foundation. He has also served as an advisor to Great Britain’s Cancer Research Campaign. Dr. Rosen was the recipient of Northwestern University Medical School’s Alumni Achievement Award (1994), the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from Northwestern Memorial Hospital (1995), the Marv Samuel Award from the Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities (1996) and recognition from the Women’s Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital for Compassionate Care (1996). He is acknowledged in Best Doctors in America and Best Doctors in Chicago.
