Ross Levine Named to Geoffrey Beene Chair

Physician-scientist Ross L. Levine has been named the incumbent of a Geoffrey Beene Junior Faculty Chair. Dr. Levine joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in September as an Assistant Member in Memorial Hospital’s Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and also holds an appointment on the Leukemia Service in the Department of Medicine. Dr. Levine studies myeloproliferative diseases — blood disorders caused by an overproduction of blood cells in the bone marrow. The goal of his research is to improve the understanding of the genetic basis for activation of signal transduction pathways in myeloid malignancies and to use this knowledge to improve therapies for patients with these disorders.

Dr. Levine received his MD degree in 1999 from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed his residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was a clinical fellow in hematology/oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a postdoctoral research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in internal medicine, hematology, and medical oncology.

The Geoffrey Beene Junior Faculty Chairs — another of which is held by Johanna Joyce of Sloan-Kettering Institute’s Cancer Biology and Genetics Program — provide funding to outstanding young researchers at a crucial early stage in their careers. The chairs are part of the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, an initiative funded by a gift from the estate of the late fashion designer Geoffrey Beene that will provide endowed support for two senior and four junior chairs in addition to funding a range of other activities and programs.