Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center – Jefferson Health

The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC) at Jefferson Health is a matrixed consortium cancer center that serves the patient population of urban Philadelphia and its adjacent communities by building upon the unique expertise, resources, and capabilities of two highly regarded Philadelphia-based institutions, Thomas Jefferson University and Drexel University. Our members are singularly focused on eradicating the impact of cancer, including disparities and inequities, in our community and beyond through the most advanced clinical care, innovative transdisciplinary research, dynamic training and mentorship, and trusted partnerships with community organizations, families, and civic leaders.

The mission of the SKCC is to improve the lives of cancer patients and their families through compassion, innovation, and breakthrough discoveries. Areas of scientific focus include cancer risk and control, implementation science, cancer health disparities, clinical trials, molecular oncology regulation and approaches, translational and cellular oncology, and immune cell regulation and targeting. Research in each of these areas is needed to successfully unravel the cancer problems within our Catchment Area and enable us to leverage our distinct expertise in understanding the needs of our community, moving catchment-relevant discoveries quickly from the bench to the bedside, and then sharing our findings and implementing interventions within the community.

The SKCC provides access to advanced clinical trials and comprehensive treatment strategies for patients throughout the Delaware Valley via 5 Advanced Care Hub sites in Center City Philadelphia, South Jersey, Northeast Philadelphia, and the northern suburbs of Philadelphia.

Our Catchment Area consists of seven contiguous counties, four in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester) and three in New Jersey (Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester). Notably, the region has approximately 6.1 million residents; if it were a state, it would be the 20th most populous state in the U.

Johns Hopkins University

Comp

William G. Nelson, MD, PhD
Director

401 North Broadway
The Weinberg Building, Suite 1100
Baltimore, MD 21231

(410) 955-8822

Senior Leaders

Senior Leader	Title
Ashani T Weeraratna, PhD	Associate Director for Laboratory Research
Elizabeth M Jaffee, MD	Deputy Director
Jamie Bachman, MPA	(Interim) Associate Director for Administration
John D Groopman, PhD	Associate Director for Population Science
Mary Y Armanios, MD	Associate Director for Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination
Nilofer S Azad, MD	Associate Director for Clinical Research
Otis W Brawley, MD, MACP, FASCO, FACE	Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement
Robert A Casero Jr, PhD	Associate Director for Shared Resources
William G Nelson, MD, PhD	Director

Research Programs

Research Program	Program Leaders
Cancer Chemical and Structural Biology	James Berger, PhD; Jun Liu, MS, PhD; Jamie Spangler, PhD
Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics	Valsamo Anagnostou, MD, PhD; Victor Velculescu, MD, PhD; Stephen Baylin, MD
Cancer Imaging and Image-guided Therapy	Zaver Bhujwalla, MSc, PhD; Xun Jia, MS, PhD; Lilja Solnes, MD, MBA
Cancer Immunology	Erika Pearce, PhD; Julie Brahmer, MD; Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD
Cancer Invasion and Metastasis	Andrew Ewald, PhD; Mikala Egeblad, PhD; Laura Wood, MD, PhD
Cancer Prevention and Control	Corinne Joshu, MPH, PhD; Alison Klein, MHS, PhD
Hematologic Malignancies and BMT	Richard Ambinder, MD, PhD; Amy DeZern, MD, MHS

Shared Resources

Category	Resource	Directors
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Cancer Functional Imaging	Dmitri Artemov, PhD; Zaver Bhujwalla, MSc, PhD; Martin Pomper, MD, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Exp and Compl Genomics	Leslie Cope, PhD; Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian, MD, PhD; Kornel Schuebel, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Experimental Irradiators	Marikki Laiho, MD, PhD; Mohammad Rezaee, PhD, MSc, BSc
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Flow Cytometry and Technology Development	Won Jin Ho, MD; Franck Housseau, PhD; M Lemas, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Mass Spectrometry Molecular Imaging and Multi-Omics	Robert Cole, PhD; Kristine Glunde, MS, PhD; Edward Pearce, PhD
Cat 1: Laboratory Science	Oncology Tissue and Imaging Services	Robert Anders, MD, PhD; Fred Bunz, MD, PhD; Alan Meeker, MAT, PhD
Cat 4: Clinical Research	Analytical Pharmacology	Michelle Rudek, PhD, PharmD
Cat 4: Clinical Research	Image Response Assessment and Biopsy Services Team	Steven Rowe, MD; Lilja Solnes, MD
Cat 4: Clinical Research	Rapid Autopsy	Angelo De Marzo, MD; Avi Rosenberg, MD
Cat 4: Clinical Research	Research Pharmacy	Michael Carducci, MD
Cat 4: Clinical Research	Translational Research Central Services Core	M. Victor Lemas, PhD
Cat 6: Biostatistics	Biostatistics	Hao Wang, PhD

Last Updated

December 11, 2025