PHILADELPHIA –
Katherine L. Nathanson, MD, an internationally recognized expert in the field of cancer genetics, has been named deputy director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Nathanson is a professor of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics in the Perelman School of Medicine, and the associate director for Population Sciences in the Abramson Cancer Center, co-leader of the Cancer Control Program, and Chief Oncogenomics Physician. She also serves as director of Genetics for the Basser Center for BRCA. She will begin her new role as deputy director immediately.
“Dr. Nathanson is a distinguished physician-scientist and has long been a valued colleague and member of the cancer center,” said Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, the director of the ACC. “Her clinical and research portfolio incorporates an impressive array of diseases. She has played a critical role in many of the ACC’s most recent advancements and is well known as an international expert in somatic and germline cancer genetics. I am delighted she has accepted this new leadership role.”
As Deputy Director, Nathanson will oversee multiple aspects of the cancer center’s scientific and clinical missions, including strategic planning, program development and evaluation, faculty recruitment, leadership appointments, and resource allocation.
“I’m honored to take on this new leadership role to advance the mission of the Abramson Cancer Center: to reduce the burden of cancer throughout the region, the nation, and the world by extending our integrated program of laboratory, clinical and population-based research,” Nathanson said.
Nathanson received her bachelor’s degree from Haverford College and her MD from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed residencies in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, as well as in Clinical genetics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and at Penn. She joined the Penn faculty in 2001, and since then, she has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles in top journals, such as Nature, JAMA, Cancer Cell, and The New England Journal of Medicine. She has an extensive record of national service for multiple organizations including the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, where she serves as the Cancer Genetics editor for Genetics in Medicine, and the American Association for Cancer Research. Nathanson is also the chair of the Cancer Genetics study section for the National Institutes of Health and is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
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