Biography
Serving the University and Rochester community as Chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology is a great privilege and honor.
Oncology is a field of work I chose driven by the loss of my grandfather from cancer as a young man, and then later in medical school, as I came to understand the scientific challenges cancer medicine presented and the deep satisfaction of caring for and helping people facing cancer. In particular I found the people I met in the clinics and labs who devoted themselves to this area to be role models and sources of inspiration.
Every patient is different – and so is each cancer. Understanding patients and their families, what is important to them, and providing the best possible care is my goal. While many people face cancer, each person does so with specific concerns, fears and beliefs. I will always do my best to provide the highest quality care, while preserving a patient's dignity.
My areas of special interest include clinical trials with new therapies for gastrointestinal cancers, and understanding the genetics and biology of pancreatic and liver cancers. My clinical specialty, caring for patients with gastro-intestinal cancers, both motivates and informs my research aspirations.
In the course of this work, I have promoted physician-scientist training at multiple levels including through the cancer center and the national cancer research community. Specifically, I have mentored numerous oncology fellows, postdoctoral fellows and PhD candidates, including MD-PhD students. As a physician, researcher and leader at URMC and Wilmot I am committed to enhancing the diversity of our community.
Conditions I Treat
- Esophageal cancer
- Stomach cancer
- Liver cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Bowel cancer
- Colon cancer
- Rectal cancer
- Anal cancer
- Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST)
- Neuroendocrine tumors
- Carcinoid tumors
Professional Background
Dr. Hezel is Chief of its Division of Hematology and Oncology and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, John and Ethel Heselden Professor and has joint appointments as associate professor of biomedical genetics and as associate professor of oncology at the Wilmot Cancer Institute.
Dr. Hezel's research focuses on cancer genetics, animal modelling, and therapeutic development in pancreatic and hepato-biliary tumors and clinical trials in gastro-intestinal malignancies. In biliary tract cancers he has studied how mutations in key oncogenes and tumor suppressors cause cancer to arise and to understand the cells of origin in the liver as well as how liver injury can impact disease. Hezel's clinical focus is on treating patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancers including those of the pancreas and liver and on clinical research testing new therapies in gastrointestinal malignancies. His research has appeared in Cancer Research, Cell Reports, Nature, and the British Journal of Cancer among other publications.
Hezel is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, as well as the American Association for Cancer Research, and his work is supported by the National Cancer Institute.
Hezel, a graduate of Vassar College, received his MD from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2000. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of Boston followed by fellowship at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Partners Oncology/Hematology Program and a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Hezel came to Rochester in 2009 from the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School.
Awards
2013
Patient & Family Centered Care Top Performer Award
Location: University of Rochester, American Cancer Society
2013
American Cancer Society Career Development Award
2012
Teacher of the Year Award
Location: University of Rochester, Division of Hematology & Oncology
2011
Teacher of the Year Award
Location: University of Rochester, Division of Hematology & Oncology
2010
Edelman Gardner Research Award
Location: University of Rochester, Wilmot Cancer Center
2007
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Physician-Scientist Early Career Award
2006
NCI Career Development Award: K08 CA122835-03
2005
PanCAN/ASCO Young Investigator Award
2000
Loretta A. Jordan Award for Research of Neoplastic Disease
2000
Robin Bannerman Memorial Research Award
1999
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Training Fellowship for Medical Students
1998
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Training Fellowship
1997
John Harford/American Federation for Aging Research
Location: Medical School Research Fellowship
1996 - 1997
Dean's List for Academic Excellence
Location: SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine
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Publications
Journal Articles
12/2/2022
Williams HL, Dias Costa A, Zhang J, Raghavan S, Winter PS, Kapner KS, Ginebaugh SP, Väyrynen SA, Väyrynen JP, Yuan C, Navia AW, Wang J, Yang A, Bosse TL, Kalekar RL, Lowder KE, Lau MC, Elganainy D, Morales-Oyarvide V, Rubinson DA, Singh H, Perez K, Cleary JM, Clancy TE, Wang J, Mancias JD, Brais LK, Hill ER, Kozak MM, Linehan DC, Dunne RF, Chang DT, Koong AC, Hezel AF, Hahn WC, Shalek AK, Aguirre AJ, Nowak JA, Wolpin BM. "Spatially-resolved single-cell assessment of pancreatic cancer expression subtypes reveals co-expressor phenotypes and extensive intra-tumoral heterogeneity." Cancer research.. 2022 Dec 2; Epub 2022 Dec 02.
9/21/2022
Dias Costa A, Väyrynen SA, Chawla A, Zhang J, Väyrynen JP, Lau MC, Williams HL, Yuan C, Morales-Oyarvide V, Elganainy D, Singh H, Cleary JM, Perez K, Ng K, Freed-Pastor W, Mancias JD, Dougan SK, Wang J, Rubinson DA, Dunne RF, Kozak MM, Brais L, Reilly E, Clancy T, Linehan DC, Chang DT, Hezel AF, Koong AC, Aguirre A, Wolpin BM, Nowak JA. "Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with altered immune cell infiltration and an anti-tumorigenic microenvironment in resected pancreatic cancer." Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.. 2022 Sep 21; Epub 2022 Sep 21.
8/30/2022
Guo B, Friedland SC, Alexander W, Myers JA, Wang W, O'Dell MR, Getman M, Whitney-Miller CL, Agostini-Vulaj D, Huber AR, Mello SS, Vertino PM, Land HK, Steiner LA, Hezel AF. "Arid1a mutation suppresses TGF-? signaling and induces cholangiocarcinoma." Cell reports.. 2022 Aug 30; 40(9):111253.
Books & Chapters
2007
Chapter Title: "Stromal biology of pancreatic cancer."
Book Title: Journal of cellular biochemistry
Author List: Chu GC; Kimmelman AC; Hezel AF; DePinho RA
Published By: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry 2007
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