Timothy Eberlein, M.D., the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and director of the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, has been elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI). Eberlein also serves as the Bixby Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery.
The AACI is comprised of 89 of the leading cancer research centers in the United States, which form the country’s cancer research infrastructure. It supports the common interest of 16,000 scientific and clinical investigators at cancer centers nationwide and strives to ensure that the public and policymakers understand and support their work. AACI cancer centers serve as headquarters for most of the nation’s clinical trials and are largely responsible for training the cancer workforce that will practice in the years to come.
“AACI has long been guided by an executive committee and board made up of the most distinguished leaders in the nation’s cancer community,” says Barbara Duffy Stewart, AACI executive director. “I am delighted to welcome Dr. Eberlein to the AACI Board of Directors. The leadership, expertise, and perspective he will bring to AACI will be invaluable as we chart our future programming on behalf of the nation’s cancer centers.”
In a 30-year career, Eberlein has excelled as physician and scientist devoted to cancer treatment and cure. He is a practicing surgeon and researcher specializing in breast cancer.
Eberlein was instrumental in developing the Siteman Cancer Center, which was designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute in 2005. The Siteman Cancer Center is now one of the largest cancer centers in the United States. It contains 12 care centers, each with unique approaches to particular cancers, and it conducts more than 350 clinical trials that seek improved cancer treatments.
In 2004, Eberlein was elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors medical scientists in the United States can receive. He is currently a senior director of the American Board of Surgery and is past president of the Society of Surgical Oncology and the Society of Surgical Chairs. He is also editor in chief of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
Washington University School of Medicine’s full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
Siteman Cancer Center is the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center within a 240-mile radius of St. Louis. Siteman Cancer Center is composed of the combined cancer research and treatment programs of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.