Biography

Stanton "Stan" L. Gerson, MD, is the Asa and Patricia Shiverick-Jane Shiverick (Tripp) Professor of Hematological Oncology, Distinguished CWRU University Professor, and recipient of the Case Western Reserve Medal for Excellence in Health Science Innovation. He is the director of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC) and founding director of the National Center for Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Gerson was also, from 2004-2017, director of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland. He was a member of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors and participated in the NCI Centers Branch Working Group to review CCSG budget and grant submission guidelines.  

Dr. Gerson graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude, and Harvard Medical School, cum laude. In 1983, after completing his residency and hematology and oncology fellowship training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he joined the faculty at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been active in the stem cell, hematologic malignancies, and developmental therapeutics programs there. Dr. Gerson has multiple NIH grants and over 265 publications, 254 abstracts, 28 book chapters, and 19 patents in stem cells and drug discovery. His honors include invited membership in the American Association of Physicians and the Mallinkrodt Scholar Award. Dr. Gerson co-edited two textbooks: Cancer Gene Therapy (third edition) and Clinical Hematology. He serves on 11 external advisory boards for cancer centers across the country. Dr. Gerson has been a member of the EDRN Advisory Board, and has served on and chaired the National Cancer Institute Experimental Therapeutics and the Cancer Centers review committees, and the FDA Cell and Gene Therapy Advisory Panel. 

Dr. Gerson’s patents in mesenchymal stem cells led to the formation of Osiris Therapeutics and to the approval of MSCs as cell therapy in Canada and New Zealand. Dr. Gerson’s discovery of methoxyamine, a first-in-class inhibitor of Base Excision Repair, has now been licensed to Tracon Pharmaceuticals, and is in drug development as TRC-102 with NCI-CTEP. This discovery of P140K MGMT as a stem cell selection gene therapy is in clinical development for patients with gliomas at four centers and was licensed by Lentigen. His other stem cell research examines the role of DNA repair in stem cell maintenance and leukemias. 

His leadership of the Case CCC involves coordinating research throughout the medical centers in Cleveland: Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and Case Western Reserve University. He led University Hospitals’ effort to bring cancer care under one roof in a freestanding cancer hospital, the Seidman Cancer Center, which opened in June 2011. At Seidman, he has led the coordination of cancer care through multidisciplinary teams, the use of clinical trials, and the development of novel therapeutics for cancer patients.  

He led the Case CCC to an “Exceptional” rating at its most recent NCI renewal. This rating was based on its outstanding accomplishments in genomics research; disease-focused cancer research in colon and esophageal cancers, leukemias, GU malignancies, and breast and brain tumors; and its ability to rapidly bring the newest discoveries into clinical use for patient benefits. In 2011, he established the center’s first Community Advisory Board, which is developing engagements with the Cleveland community designed to improve access to cancer care and clinical trials, improve early cancer detection and screening, vaccinations (HPV), and to help navigate patients in need from the community to cancer centers in Cleveland. 

Dr. Gerson has been an active member of AACI for the past 12 years, and served as president of its Board of Directors from 2016 to 2018.