James Abbruzzese, MD, has been named the Charles Johnson, MD, Professor of Medicine.
Dr. Abbruzzese is chief of the Division of Medical Oncology, a member of the Duke Cancer Institute and serves as its associate director of Clinical Research and Training. He is one of four School of Medicine faculty who were awarded distinguished professorships at a May 4th dinner.
Distinguished professorships recognize both exceptional achievement and the potential for future achievement. They are awarded to the School's most distinguished faculty who have demonstrated extraordinary scholarship in advancing science and improving human health.
Abbruzzese is one of the world's foremost leaders in the clinical study and treatment of pancreatic cancer. His research focuses on the development of novel therapeutic agents for pancreatic and other gastrointestinal cancers. He has held National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NCI) grants in phase I and phase II drug development, a translational research grant from the NCI assessing novel anti-angiogenic agents in cancer patients, and a SPORE grant focused on the development of novel therapies for pancreatic cancer.
Co-author of more than 400 research publications, Abbruzzese has recently served as the chair of the Clinical Trials and Translational Research Advisory Committee of the National Cancer Institute. He currently serves on the editorial board of a number of prestigious journals, including as deputy editor of the AACR journal Clinical Cancer Research. He also serves on the scientific advisory board for Pancreatic Cancer United Kingdom.
Abbruzzese earned his medical degree with honors from the University of Chicago-Pritzker School of Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also completed clinical fellowships in Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins and in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard Medical School. Before his recruitment to Duke University he spent most of his professional career at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, where he progressed through the ranks to assume leadership positions as professor and chairman of the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology and associate vice-provost for Clinical Research. Abbruzzese joined the Duke faculty in 2013.