Three Oncologists, Scientists Join Wilmot Cancer Center Team
The University of Rochester Medical Center welcomes three new physician/scientists to serve people with cancer and expand novel research programs at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.
"These three new faculty members are very talented and will serve our patients well,” says Jonathan Friedberg, M.D., chief of Hematology/Oncology at the Wilmot Cancer Center. “These recruitments are a testimony to our ability to attract high quality clinicians and researchers to Rochester. Our new building, the University’s focus on cancer and the growth of our research program over the past few years are clearly paying off. This is a very exciting time for the Wilmot Cancer Center.”
Paul Barr, M.D., assistant professor, joined the multidisciplinary lymphoma team from Case Western Reserve University where he was director of the lymphoma program. In 2007, Barr trained under Richard I. Fisher, M.D., director of the Wilmot Cancer Center and an international expert in lymphoma.
Barr will also join the collaborative team of scientists working on the lymphoma Specialized Program of Research Excellence and will study new therapies for T-cell lymphomas. The program is an $11.5 million National Cancer Institute-funded research initiative to bring about better treatments and understanding of lymphomas, which has seen a puzzling increase in incidence over the past three decades.
“He brings experience in clinical research and will work to grow the efforts of the lymphoma program in developing clinical trials exploring novel agents,” Friedberg says. “In addition, his expertise in chronic lymphocytic leukemia will support our clinical research portfolio in that disease.”
He is a graduate of Miami University in Ohio and Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and completed residency and fellowship training at Case Western Reserve University.
He was selected to participate in the American Society of Hematology Clinical Research Training Institute and has published several papers on lymphoma.
Kristen O’Dwyer, M.D., joined the multidisciplinary leukemia team and Jordan’s laboratory. She recently completed fellowship training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and before that, residencies at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College and the National Cancer Institute She will be working on translational research in leukemia as well as myelodysplasia and myeloproliferative diseases.
O’Dwyer, a senior instructor, graduated from Northwestern University and University of Iowa before earning her medical degree from University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
She received the American Society of Clinical Oncology Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award and has published several research studies in major journals.
Christina Wiedl, D.O., joined the benign hematology program and cares for people with blood and coagulation disorders, such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. She is an instructor and a Wilmot Cancer Research Fellow studying therapies to target refractory and relapsed pediatric leukemias in the lab of Craig Jordan, Ph.D.
A graduate of Alleghany College, Wiedl earned a doctorate at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed a residency in pediatrics at A.I. Dupont Hospital for Children at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital before joining the Medical Center’s Golisano Children’s Hospital in 2007.
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