Wilmot Cancer Center Expert Joins Lymphoma Research Foundation Group

Steven H. Bernstein, M.D., an oncologist with the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center and expert in lymphoma, was recently elected to the Executive Committee of the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare but aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, affecting about 3,000 people each year in the United States. The foundation has launched a well-funded program to expand research for better understanding of the disease to improve care.

Bernstein is professor of Medicine and co-director of the Lymphoma Program at the Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center. His laboratory and clinical research interests center on immunological appproaches to the treatment of lymphoma as well as in the development of novel redox active anti-lymphoma therapeutics. Bernstein received two grants from the Lymphoma Research Foundation to examine the effects of rituximab on tumor-fighting T-cells and study the use of a synthesized plant derivative (triterpenoids) to force cellular changes that may destroy mantle cell lymphoma

He also plays a key role in the Wilmot Cancer Center’s major lymphoma research effort. The center holds an $11.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to identify and study new therapies for lymphomas. The Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant positions the program as among the top four in the nation.

A graduate of the New York University Medical School, Bernstein completed internship at the University of Chicago, residency at New York University Medical Center/Bellevue Hospital, a clinical fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Beth Israel Hospital and a research fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  

The Lymphoma Research Foundation is the nation's largest voluntary health organization devoted exclusively to funding lymphoma research and providing patients and healthcare professionals with critical information on the disease.