Philip H. Gutin has been named Chair of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's recently established Department of Neurosurgery.
Dr. Gutin, a neuro-oncologic surgeon and the incumbent of the Fred Lebow Chair in Neuro-oncology, has served for more than ten years as Chief of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Neurosurgical Service. He specializes in surgery for benign and malignant tumors of the brain. Recognized internationally as a leader in academic neuro-oncology, he is known for his work in the use of surgery and focused radiation techniques to treat brain tumors. His research interests include radiation biology and the use of drugs to block the formation of blood vessels within brain tumors to stop their growth.
"The creation of the Department of Neurosurgery comes at a time when the national trend for more than a decade has been the separation of this discipline from general surgery, with which it shares less and less academically," said Dr. Gutin. The establishment of the new department coincides with the formation of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Brain Tumor Center (BTC), which will be overseen by the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery and will include clinicians and scientists from Memorial Hospital, the Sloan-Kettering Institute, and the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program.
"There are lots of good things going on in neurosurgery now," explained Dr. Gutin. "We have particularly strong, young surgeon-scientists and a variety of interesting clinical and research programs. We will be major participants in the evolving Brain Tumor Center. The BTC will help to organize the neuro-oncology research that is already underway at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and it will guide the development of additional research and clinical programs."
The BTC just made its first grants to support Center physician-scientists whose research can be directed toward the understanding and treatment of brain tumors. The BTC will inevitably include collaborators from Memorial Sloan-Kettering's institutional partners, The Rockefeller University and Weill Medical College of Cornell University. "The BTC is a 'virtual' center," Dr. Gutin elaborated, "that brings together investigators with common interests to collaborate in laboratory and clinical research."
Dr. Gutin received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971 and completed his graduate medical education at the University of Pennsylvania; the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); and the National Cancer Institute. Prior to joining Memorial Sloan-Kettering in 1996, Dr. Gutin was Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at UCSF.
