(Philadelphia,
PA) -- Dr. Erle S. Robertson has been appointed
Leader of the Tumor Virology Program at the Abramson
Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania as well
as Associate Professor in Microbiology at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
After receiving his doctorate in Microbiology and Molecular
Genetics at Wayne State University, Detroit, Robertson
became a fellow in microbiology and molecular genetics
at Harvard Medical School. He continued his research
pursuits as a fellow of the Cancer Research Institute
and a Leukemia Society of America special fellow at
Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Prior to coming to Penn, Robertson was an instructor
in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School
and an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor.
During this time he designed many of the courses he
taught and was actively involved in the supervision
of graduate and post-graduate research projects.
Robertson's current research interests center around
identifying the mechanisms by which tumor viruses -
specifically the Epstein-Barr virus and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated
herpes virus - infect human cells and advance the development
of cancers, including Hodgkin's disease, Kaposi's sarcoma
and AIDS lymphoma; and looks forward to a time when
his research will advance to the point where specific
therapies will be developed for treating viral associated
cancers.
Robertson has authored numerous articles, books, book
chapters, reviews and manuals; and has presented his
work at professional meetings, both nationally and internationally.
He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has received many
prestigious awards, including the First Investigator
Research Award
from the National Cancer Institute is 1996, and the
Scholar Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
of America in 1999. He is a member of several professional
organizations, including the American Association for
the Advancement of Sciences, the Molecular Medicine
Society, the American Society of Virology and the American
Society for Microbiology. He is also on the editorial
boards of the two leading virology journals. Robertson
serves nationally on a number of scientific review panels
for the National Institutes of Health, and internationally
for the Scottish Hospital Endowments Research Trusts,
the Welcome Foundation and the Israel Science Foundation.
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