Zvi Fuks
Zvi Fuks has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.
Dr. Fuks is the incumbent of an Alfred P. Sloan Chair in Radiation Oncology and a member of Sloan Kettering Institute’s Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program. His laboratory is studying the biologic mechanism by which single-dose radiotherapy cures tumors, demonstrating that radiation damage to both the tumor cells and the small-blood-vessel network that feeds the tumor are required for tumor cure. Studies showed that signals produced by the damaged microvascular system interfere with a tumor cell’s ability to repair radiation damage, leading to the demise of tumor cells and to tumor cure.
A renowned radiation oncologist, Dr. Fuks is the former Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. He was one of the principal developers of three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), two new and sophisticated computer-guided techniques that deliver radiation to tumors with minimal exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. These techniques have led to important advances in the ability to cure tumors using radiation therapy.
The IOM is a branch of the National Academies and was established to honor professional achievement in the health sciences. Seventeen members of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s faculty were already members of the Institute of Medicine.