Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center

First established in 1974, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University became an NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1997. Dedicated to overcoming cancer through scientific discovery, advancing medical knowledge, providing state-of-the-art cancer care, and training the next generation of physicians and scientists, the Lurie Cancer Center has a long-standing commitment to advocacy, education, outreach, and engagement.

The Lurie Cancer Center unites physicians and scientists from Northwestern University’s campuses in Evanston and Chicago. Working together across disciplines, they bring their combined skills and expertise to patients at four Chicago teaching hospitals: Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center.

Fueled by advances in research, Lurie Cancer Center and its affiliated hospitals provide comprehensive care for nearly 16,000 new patients each year. A wide range of specialized programs and services support patients from diagnosis through treatment and survivorship, including dynamic supportive oncology, fertility preservation, and survivorship programs.

Northwestern University

Comp

Leonidas C. Platanias, MD, PhD
Director

303 E. Superior Street
Suite 3-125
Chicago, IL 60611

(312) 695-0990

Senior Leaders

Senior Leader	Title
Carolyn Passaglia	Interim Associate Director, Administration
David Cella, PhD	Associate Director, Prevention and Control Research
Jochen Lorch, MD	Associate Director, Clinical Research
Kathleen Green, PhD	Associate Director, Basic Sciences Research
Leonidas Platanias, MD, PhD	Director and Principal Investigator
Maha Hussain, MD	Deputy Director
Marcus Peter, PhD	Associate Director, Shared Resources
Mary Mulcahy, MD	Associate Director, Clinical Operations
Melissa Simon, MD, MPH	Associate Director, Community Outreach and Engagement
Patricia Robinson, MD	Associate Director, Cancer Health Equity
Sarki Abdulkadir, MD, PhD	Associate Director, Translational Research
TBN	Associate Director, Education and Training

Shared Resources

Category	Resource	Directors
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Center for Advanced Microscopy (CAM)	Constadina Arvanitis, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Developmental Therapeutics Core Facility (DTC)	Xiao-Nan Li, MD, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Flow Cytometry Facility (Flow)	Harris Perlman, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	High Throughput Analysis Laboratory (HTA)	Curt Horvath, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Keck Biophysics Facility (Keck)	Amy Rosenzweig, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Medicinal and Synthetic Chemistry Core Facility (ChemCore)	Karl Scheidt, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Molecular and Translational Imaging Core Facility (MTIC)	Thomas Meade, PhD; Dong-Hyun Kim, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Mouse Histology and Phenotyping Laboratory (MHPL)	Jared Ahrendsen, MD, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Proteomics Shared Resource Facility (Proteomics)	Neil Kelleher, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Structural Biology Facility (SBF)	Alfonso Mondragón, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Transgenic and Targeted Mutagenesis Laboratory (TTML)	Rajeshwar Awatramani, PhD
Cat 3: Epidemiology, Cancer Control	Outcomes Measurement and Survey Core Facility (OMSC)	Nan Rothrock, PhD
Cat 4: Clinical Research	Pathology Core Facility (PCF)	Craig Horbinski, MD, PhD
Cat 6: Biostatistics	Quantitative Data Sciences Core (QDSC)	Masha Kocherginsky, PhD

Last Updated

September 5, 2025