Ben Ho Park was named co-leader of the Breast Cancer Research Program, director of Precision Oncology, and associate director for Translational Research at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
In his academic role, he will serve as professor of medicine.
Park, who will assume his new VICC post Sept. 1, succeeds Carlos Arteaga, who moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as Director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Dean of Oncology Programs.
Park serves as professor of oncology in the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Program, associate director for research training and education and member of the Executive Oversight Committee at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. He also is associate dean for postdoctoral affairs for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Park joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2002. He operates a research laboratory at Johns Hopkins and is an investigator with expertise in molecular targets for cancer, including circulating plasma tumor DNA as biomarkers for detecting residual disease which is known as a ‘liquid biopsy.’
In 2004, he was the first to identify a high frequency of PIK3CA mutations in breast cancer and then discovered their contributions towards oncogenic phenotypes. His work, including the generation of genetically modified cell lines, has been widely cited and requests for his cell lines have led to important discoveries by other investigators. Park has made fundamental contributions to the field of drug resistance, including hormone therapy resistance.
He serves as an associate editor on the Journal of Clinical Investigation and served on the editorial board for the journal Cancer Research, and is associate editor for Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.
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