National Cancer Institute Researcher Frank J. Gonzalez to Speak

Frank J. Gonzalez, Ph.D., chief of the Laboratory of Metabolism at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, will speak at NEOMED on Thursday, Nov. 27, at 11 a.m. for the inaugural Ferenc Hutterer, M.D., Seminar in Liver Research. The new series honors the late Dr. Hutterer, founding chair of NEOMED’s biochemistry and molecular pathology program, for his contributions to medical education and liver research.

The inaugural presentation, titled “The role of hepatic and intestinal nuclear receptors in cancer and metabolic diseases,” will take place at Meshel Hall, Room R-146.

Dr. Gonzalez’s research focuses on the causes and treatment of metabolic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver disease, which lead to increased cancer risk. He also studies inflammatory bowel disease.  From his group’s research on how chemicals in food, drugs and the environment (including chemical carcinogens) are metabolized, scientists now understand the molecular basis of why particular individuals are more prone to adverse drug reactions.

“It is an honor to have Frank J. Gonzalez, Ph.D., give the inaugural seminar to recognize Dr. Hutterer, who also understood the importance of metabolomics in the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases,’’ said John Chiang, Ph.D.

Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism is a newly named research area at NEOMED, directed by Yanqiao Zhang, M.D., professor of integrative medical sciences.

Precision Medicine

The pivotal studies by Dr. Gonzalez’s group have contributed to the field of pharmacogenetics and the new age of precision medicine, which matches optimal disease treatment regimens to individual patients. Currently, Dr. Gonzalez is focused on the discovery of biomarkers for early cancer detection. His group has identified diagnostic biomarkers for stage 1 and stage 2 lung cancer and has identified candidate biomarkers for other cancers.

About Dr. Gonzalez

Among his many awards, Dr. Gonzalez has received the Rawls Palmer Progress in Medicine Award from the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology; the John Abel and Bernard B. Brodie Awards from the American Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics; the North American Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics; the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) National Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer; and NIH Merit Awards. He is coinventor of more than 16 patents and has published more than 1,150 papers.

Honoring a NEOMED Leader

The Ferenc Hutterer, M. D., Seminar in Liver Research was established through donations to the NEOMED Foundation in honor of Dr. Hutterer, a former chair of biochemistry and molecular pathology at NEOMED who retired in 1996 and died in 2017.

Born in Szeged, Hungary, in 1929, Dr. Hutterer and his family survived life in a concentration camp during World War II and eventually moved to New York City, where the researcher was professor of pathology and director of the Department of Chemistry at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, City University of New York. He was hired away to NEOMED in 1975 by Stanley Olson, M.D., one of NEOMED’s founders, to be the first program chief and professor of molecular pathobiology at University.

“As the founding chair of biochemistry, he had this vision and ambition to make NEOUCOM a leader in liver research,” Distinguished Professor Dr. John Chiang said upon his death. “Thirty years later, we are still focused on this research which has become so important to the understanding of the liver, metabolism and liver diseases.”

Ferenc Hutterer, M.D., Seminar in Liver Research

Thursday, Nov. 27, at 11 a.m.
Meshel Hall, Room R-146
Northeast Ohio Medical University
4209 St. Rt. 44
Rootstown, OH 44272

Free and open to the public; registration requested.

Register here.

Questions? Call Dr. Chiang at 330.325.6694 or Ileen Ciccozzi at 330.325.6436.