The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (Meso Foundation) announced this week that Marjorie Zauderer, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, has been voted chair of the Board of Directors, which governs the organization. She first joined the board in 2017.
Dr. Zauderer succeeded the previous chair Dr. Richard Alexander, a surgeon at Rutgers University, whose term had expired. During his tenure Dr. Alexander was instrumental in the establishment of several new initiatives, including the creation of the first ever Peritoneal Mesothelioma Working Group.
“Dr. Zauderer is a talented clinician and researcher with an exceptional track record in mesothelioma,” said Mary Hesdorffer, nurse practitioner and executive director of the Meso Foundation. “I look forward to working with her in this new capacity.”
Dr. Marjorie G. Zauderer, MD, MS, FACP is co-director of the MSK Mesothelioma Program and Assistant Attending on the Thoracic Oncology Service in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She received her medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia University Medical Center, and completed fellowship and chief fellowship in medical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. As a faculty member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Zauderer cares for patients with mesothelioma and other thoracic malignancies. Her practice aims to provide personalized care to patients throughout the course of their treatment based not only on the type of cancer and its genetics but the individual priorities of each and every patient and family.
She is also an active translational and clinical researcher and focuses on the development of new therapies for the treatment of mesothelioma and lung cancers. She has received several awards for her research including a Department of Defense Career Development Award. She is the principal investigator for numerous mesothelioma clinical trials and spearheads the MSK BAP1 program to investigate inherited mutations in the BAP1 gene (BRCA associated protein-1) that predispose patients to malignant pleural mesothelioma and uveal melanoma, as well as renal cell carcinoma, lung cancers, and meningiomas. She also works on developing therapeutics for somatic BAP1 loss and other common molecular alterations as well as novel immunotherapies and biomarkers that may predict response to these new treatments.
She has previously served on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation and is a member of the NCI-CTEP Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee Mesothelioma Working Group. She has been an active peer reviewer for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs sponsored by the Department of Defense and is active within the American Society of Clinical Oncology. At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, she is the Thoracic Disease Management Team Lead for the MSK Alliance and is a Core Physician for the MSK-IBM Watson decision support tool for oncology. Dr. Zauderer has lectured and presented her work throughout the United States and international mesothelioma community and has authored/co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed oncology manuscripts.
