Ken H. Young, MD, PhD, will assume the role of chief, Hematopathology Division and DCI Blood Cancer Pathology Service, effective January 1, 2021, according to an announcement by Jiaoti Huang, MD, Chair of the Department of Pathology.
Young, who joined Duke in 2019, is a professor of clinical science in the Department of Pathology and a member of Duke Cancer Institute. He directs a lab focused on the mechanisms of tumor progression, cell-of-origin, molecular and genetic biomarkers, and novel therapeutic strategies in lymphoma, myeloma, and leukemia. Previous to Duke, Young was a tenured professor in the Department of Hematopathology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
"Dr. Young is an outstanding hematopathologist and an internationally known investigator in the field of blood cancer for pathologic and clinical translational research," wrote Huang, announcing Young's new role. "His contributions to the hematology field include the development of novel technologies as well as molecular and genetic biomarkers for classification of blood cancer and lymphoid neoplasms."
Huang noted that Young has extensive experience in the diagnosis of hematologic cancers, has lectured nationally and internationally on various hematology topics particularly lymphoma and myeloma pathology, and has published 217 original peer-reviewed articles and 52 review articles, many in high impact journals, including Nature Clin Onc Review, JCO, Blood, JHO, Leukemia, and Clinical Cancer Research.
Young's research effort in hematopathology is funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI). He has also been the recipient of the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society LLS Award, the Paul Paulson Lymphoma Award, the Hagemeister Lymphoma Foundation Award, the Gundersen Foundation Award, the Myeloma and Lymphoma Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) Development Awards, and the Lymphoma Moonshot Program Award.
Young has directed clinical hematology and translational lymphoma programs and established seven lymphoma consortium programs composed of 25 medical centers in the U.S.
"These programs have developed guidelines for lymphoma pathology practice and have performed clinical and translational investigations using novel technologies for genomic, epigenomic and gene expression profiling studies," wrote Huang.
Huang thanked Anand Lagoo, MD (also a DCI member) "for his many outstanding contributions over the years to build a top-notch hematopathology service," and noted that Lagoo will continue to offer his expertise and experience in clinical diagnosis, education and mentoring including his important roles as the director of the Flow Cytometry Laboratory and associate director of the Pathology Residency Program.
