MOBILE – A trio of internationally renowned cancer researchers has joined the University of South Alabama Cancer Research Institute.

Dr. Oystein Fodstad is director of the Institute for Cancer Research and Dr. Steinar Aamdal is head of Clinical Cancer Research, both at The Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo, Norway’s national cancer research center. Dr. Lewis K. Pannell is chief of the Structural Mass Spectrometry Facility and senior investigator with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health near Washington, D.C. The three were selected following an extensive international search.

“We’re incredibly fortunate to have these researchers join us,” said USA Cancer Research Institute Director Dr. Michael Boyd. “Each is internationally recognized as a leading cancer researcher and leader in scientific discovery. This definitely enhances future recruiting as we work to achieve the highest possible level of excellence in research and treatment at the USA Cancer Research Institute.”

“In addition to their incredible accumulated talent, these three people bring the USA Cancer Research Institute instant recognition and credibility in the scientific community,” said Dr. Robert A. Kreisberg, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the USA College of Medicine.

“Science and research can cure disease. We know that. We must find a cure for the most dreaded disease of all – cancer,” said University President Gordon Moulton. “Our ambitious plan to develop a world class cancer institute can only happen through the support of our community and by bringing in distinguished scientists such as these.”

Fodstad will be director of the Center for Basic and Translational Science at the Institute and Aamdal will be deputy director for Clinical Research.

“Dr. Fodstad is an internationally renowned scientist and a veteran in developing an outstanding cancer research program,” Boyd said. “Dr. Aamdal is a clinical trialist par excellence, focusing on early-stage testing and investigations of new cancer drugs. Both men are a major part of Norway’s expertise in cancer research and treatment. They have worked closely together for years, and I’ve appreciated their stature and character for a long time.”

Boyd said the USA Cancer Research Institute and the Norwegian Radium Hospital may collaborate on future research efforts.

Pannell will serve as head of the Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility at the Institute’s Center for Basic and Translational Science.

“In Dr. Pannell, we have been extraordinarily fortunate to have one of the very best to join our ranks,” Boyd said. “We are incredibly lucky.” Pannell will also serve as professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the USA College of Medicine.

“It is very appealing to build something quite new,” Fodstad said of his move to USA. “It is also exciting to be able to select and work with people of the highest quality to do great research.”

Fodstad and Boyd have worked together and known each other for more than 20 years.

Fodstad has been director of the Institute for Cancer Research at The Norwegian Radium Hospital since 2000 and head of the department of tumor biology there for 15 years. He is also a professor in experimental cancer chemotherapy at the University of Oslo. He has had approximately 190 papers published in peer-reviewed journals, review articles and book chapters, and has seven patents issued in the United States, Europe and several countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

A native of Skreia, Norway, Fodstad earned his M.D. in 1967 and his Ph.D. in 1980, both from the University of Oslo.

Aamdal has been head of Clinical Cancer Research at The Norwegian Radium Hospital for nearly two years. He has been a senior oncologist at the hospital since 1987, specializing in melanoma and lung cancer research and treatment, and has published more than 70 scientific publications on cancer related topics. At USA, he will design and set up various clinical trials and work to develop a program similar to the one he directed at Norway’s internationally known cancer center.

“What really hooked me was the opportunity to help develop this new institute,” Aamdal said. “I’m excited at the thought of developing a regional cancer research network. The Institute will be a tremendous asset for patients, giving them access to leading-edge drugs and advanced treatment.”

Aamdal is a native of Oslo and earned his M.D. in 1973 from the University of Kiel, Lubeck, Germany, and his Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Oslo.

Pannell’s move to USA will enable scientists and collaborators at the Institute and throughout the USA College of Medicine to engage in the rapidly developing, highly promising and competitive field of research called proteomics, the study of proteins produced by genes.

“What impressed me was the enthusiasm of a significant number of the College of Medicine faculty in having a proteomics facility at USA, and of having me come here to establish it,” Pannell said. “The chance to be in on the beginning of the USA Cancer Research Institute was an attractive bonus.”

“Proteomics is among the most important, cutting-edge areas of research and technology development that will affect clinical science and clinical practice in the foreseeable future,” Boyd said. In the cancer field, early diagnostic applications for ovary and prostate cancer are already emerging, according to Boyd.

Pannell was recruited to the NIH in 1984, where he quickly achieved distinction for his pioneering research on biomedical applications of mass spectrometry, or the measurement of simple molecular weights, which helps identify proteins and find abnormalities. Pannell is originally from Christchurch, New Zealand. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch in 1975.

Primary objectives of the USA Cancer Research Institute are to increase care and treatment options for cancer patients in the Gulf Coast region, support advanced research and development of new cancer therapies, provide a single location for coordinated comprehensive cancer care – prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research - and provide local access to high technology medicine, such as USA’s PET/CT scanner. The Institute will also seek designation as a National Cancer Institute cancer center.

The USA Cancer Research Institute is being funded through tobacco settlement funds, federal appropriations, competitive contracts and grants, and the USA Foundation. Moulton said the Institute could create 700 jobs for citizens of all educational levels, with an economic impact of $1 billion expected in the first decade. The Institute will stimulate the growth of a strong regional economy built on biomedicine and biotechnology.

“We believe the USA Cancer Research Institute will have a significant economic impact for Mobile, attracting patients from the surrounding areas, creating high-tech jobs and providing up to $50 million for the local economy over the next five years,” Moulton said. “There’s also great potential for creating new products, companies and jobs from patents and new medical technology that is developed at the USA Cancer Research Institute.”

Some 6,000 people on the upper Gulf Coast die of cancer each year. The annual cancer death rate is more than 30 percent higher than the national average. Mobile County loses 1,200 people per year to cancer, while Baldwin County loses about 400. More than 50 percent of cancer patients do not respond to conventional treatment methods and require new drugs and therapies such as those developed at academic cancer research institutes. Currently, 2.5 million people in the area do not have access to an academic cancer institute.

The USA Cancer Research Institute is located at USA Knollwood Hospital and will involve the entire USA Health System, working closely with local hospitals and physicians.

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