Brain Cancer Expert Joins Neurosurgery Faculty at Mount Sinai
Dolores Hambardzumyan, PhD, MBA, has been appointed Senior Faculty in the Department of Neurosurgery and a member of The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her research focuses on developing novel therapeutic pathways for the treatment of glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor that is among the most deadly forms of human cancer. She is also exploring the relationship between cancer cells and immune cells within the tumor. Dr. Hambardzumyan’s laboratory explores the role of tumor-associated immune cells called macrophages in gliomas (a tumor that starts in the glial cells of the brain) using genetically engineered mouse models as well as cutting-edge imaging techniques and large-scale gene expression analysis.
“Our neurosurgery department fosters a close partnership between researchers and clinicians, and the addition of Dolores Hambardzumyan to our team further enhances our efforts to deliver cutting-edge treatments from the laboratory to the clinic,” said Joshua Bederson, MD, the Leonard I. Malis, MD / Corinne and Joseph Graber Professor of Neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Chair of Neurosurgery for the Mount Sinai Health System.
“Despite the challenges in treating glioblastoma, the courage is getting up every day and working toward a cure,” said Dr. Hambardzumyan. “I am excited to join a world-class neurosurgery department that strives to make a difference in patient’s lives.”
Dr. Hambardzumyan received her PhD in Biochemistry from the Buniatian Institute of Biochemistry, part of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. She received an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Her postgraduate training included fellowships in cancer biology and radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a fellowship in neuronal plasticity and transplantation at INSERM, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. She has ongoing R01 and R21 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has 67 peer-reviewed contributions and is author of the chapter “Malignant Glioma” in the textbook Neuroglia, 3rd edition (2012).
The Department of Neurosurgery at the Mount Sinai Health System is internationally recognized as a leader in clinical neurosurgery, neurosurgery education, and neurosurgery research. The department has the largest volume of neurological surgeries in New York City. Neurosurgery and Neurology at The Mount Sinai Hospital were ranked 14th in the nation for neurological surgery in to the 2019-2020 “Best Hospitals” issue of U.S. News and World Report.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.
As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.
Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.