Stephen D. Nimer, M.D., one of the world’s premier leukemia and stem cell transplant researchers and clinicians, has been named the new director of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.Nimer, the Alfred P. Sloan Chair in Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, will assume the key UHealth-University of Miami Health System post this spring, bringing 30 years of pioneering research and clinical experience and a passion for improving the lives of patients with cancer, and their families.
“The focus will not be solely on taking care of the cancer, it will be on taking care of the patient,” said Nimer, whose patient-centered philosophy has won him as much acclaim as his clinical and laboratory accomplishments. “That means trying to understand as fully as possible each patient’s cancer – the biology driving the cancer, and the impact of the cancer on the patient’s life – in order to develop a personalized therapeutic approach suited to each individual.”
Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D., Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Miller School, and CEO of UHealth, said Nimer, who headed the Division of Hematologic Oncology at Sloan-Kettering for a dozen years, is the ideal physician-scientist to lead Sylvester into its third decade and to designation as one of the nation’s official comprehensive cancer centers by the NIH’s National Cancer Institute.
“Stephen possesses a unique combination of outstanding clinical skills and visionary scientific acumen in cancer research that will lead Sylvester to become the next top comprehensive cancer center in the U.S.,” Dean Goldschmidt said. “He brings a true patient-centered approach to clinical care and leading-edge research that makes a real difference for our fellow humans.”
“Dr. Nimer will be a spectacular leader for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center,” said UM President Donna E. Shalala. “This is a momentous development for the Miller School, the University of Miami, and all of South Florida.”
Nimer, currently vice chair for faculty development at Sloan-Kettering’s Department of Medicine, plans to develop and expand services at Sylvester, including programs for breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and hematological malignancies. He also plans to recruit more than 30 new scientists and physicians, develop key core facilities and expand the clinical and laboratory research capabilities.
He specifically hopes to recruit experts in areas such as bone marrow transplantation, mouse models of human cancer, and molecular diagnostics, as well as additional surgeons skilled in complex, curative and restorative procedures, such as breast reconstruction. He also will expand efforts in cancer prevention, screening and early diagnosis.
Nimer, who is also a member of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, a professor of pharmacology and medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and an attending physician at Memorial Hospital, has conducted extensive research into the treatment and genetic basis of adult leukemia and bone marrow failure states.
During nearly two decades at Sloan-Kettering, he established the inpatient hematology service and the autologous stem cell transplant program for adults with hematologic malignancies. He participated in the pivotal clinical trials that led to the FDA approval of lenalidomide for 5q- MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome), and decitabine for intermediate or high-risk MDS patients.
Furthermore, he and his team established several research programs identifying signaling pathways that could be targeted to treat patients with myeloid malignancies, and focused on determining how cancer cells resist chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology and hematology, Nimer was elected to the prestigious American Society of Clinical Investigators at age 42, is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and serves on the editorial board of several medical journals, and on the medical boards of several foundations, including the Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation, the Bone Marrow Foundation, and the Myelodysplastic Syndrome Foundation, which he chairs.
