Andrew Louis Pecora (born 1957) is an American
hematologist
Hematology (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to ...
and
oncologist
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...
involved in research on the use of stem cells and
oncolytic viruses
An oncolytic virus is a virus that preferentially infects and kills cancer cells. As the infected cancer cells are destroyed by oncolysis, they release new infectious virus particles or virions to help destroy the remaining tumour. Oncolytic viru ...
to treat diseases, including
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
.
He is the CEO of Outcomes Matter Innovations. As of 2020, he is on the Board of Directors Celularity, Inc. (since 2017) and founder and Executive Chairman, COTA, Inc. (since 2012). Previously, he was
chief innovations officer, professor and vice president of cancer services at the
John Theurer Cancer Center, part of the
Hackensack University Medical Center
Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) is a 781-bed non-profit, research and teaching hospital providing tertiary and healthcare needs located seven miles (11 km) west of New York City, in Hackensack, Bergen County, New Jersey. As of 2 ...
. He is a professor of medicine and oncology at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
.
Early life and education
Pecora was born in 1957 in
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. He was raised in
Nutley and graduated
Nutley High School
Nutley High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the Township of Nutley, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Nutley Public Schoo ...
. Pecora attended
Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...
, graduating in 1979 with
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
in Biology. He then attended the
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) was a state-run health sciences institution of New Jersey, United States.
It was founded as the Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry in 1954, and by the 1980s was both a major ...
(UMDNJ), graduating with a medical degree in 1983. He is a diplomate of the
American Board of Internal Medicine
The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, self-appointed physician-evaluation organization that certifies physicians practicing internal medicine and its subspecialties. The American Board of Internal Medicine is n ...
's sub-specialties of
hematology
Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...
and
oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...
.
Medical career
Pecora interned at
New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
from 1983 to 1984 and was a resident in internal medicine from 1984 to 1986.
From 1986 to 1989, he began a fellowship at
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...
. He then moved to
Hackensack University Medical Center
Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) is a 781-bed non-profit, research and teaching hospital providing tertiary and healthcare needs located seven miles (11 km) west of New York City, in Hackensack, Bergen County, New Jersey. As of 2 ...
(HUMC) to become assistant director of
stem cell and bone marrow transplantation from 1990 to 1993. He became the program's chief director of
stem cell
In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...
collection and storage services.
Pecora later created the John Theurer Cancer Center's and served as chairman, chief innovations officer, and vice president.
He is listed as an inventor on seven granted patents. His distinctions include he ASCO Cancer Foundation Research Award, BioNJ Dr. Sol J. Barer Award for vision, innovation and leadership, and the Gallo Award for outstanding cancer research.
Research and grants
Between 1992 and 2005, Pecora was Principal Investigator on more than 40 studies and trials. In 1998, he started a version of the
problem-based learning
Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem found in trigger material. The PBL process does not focus on problem solving with a define ...
program at
UMDNJ
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) was a state-run health sciences institution of New Jersey, United States.
It was founded as the Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry in 1954, and by the 1980s was both a majo ...
. This was an adaptation of earlier programs that allows medical students to fulfill their early basic science course requirements by examining the actual case studies.
That same year, Pecora was the lead author on the study of CD34
+CD33
− cells as it relates to chemotherapy treatment and bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include lymphadenopathy, enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight los ...
(NHL).
Pecora et al. discovered that patients who had received more than two cycles of
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...
and were shown to have "chemotherapy-resistant NHL mobilized a significantly lower percentage of CD34
+CD33
− cells than did chemotherapy-sensitive NHL patients." They also found the reverse that those who had received less significant levels of chemotherapy treatment had higher levels of CD34
+CD33
− cells.
In 2002, Pecora was an investigator in a study of PV701, a
virus
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.
Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1 ...
that selectively attacks
cancer cell
Cancer cells are cells that divide continually, forming solid tumors or flooding the blood with abnormal cells. Cell division is a normal process used by the body for growth and repair. A parent cell divides to form two daughter cells, and these d ...
s.
In the
phase 1 clinical trial, they found that intravenous administration of the
oncolytic virus
An oncolytic virus is a virus that preferentially infects and kills cancer cells. As the infected cancer cells are destroyed by lysis#Oncolysis, oncolysis, they release new infectious virus particles or virus, virions to help destroy the remaining ...
es led to inflammation of the tumor site that made it difficult to immediately determine effectiveness of the treatment. This false appearance of increase in cancer cells was confirmed by a later trial of the same oncolytic virus, and also in Onyx 015, an
oncolytic adenovirus
Adenovirus varieties have been explored extensively as a viral vector for gene therapy and also as an oncolytic virus.
Of the many different viruses being explored for oncolytic potential, an adenovirus was the first to be approved by a regulatory ...
.
In describing the report authored by Pecora, Emily Bergsland and
Alan Venook editorialized that
The study concludes that PV701 could be tested relatively safely and offers dosing guidelines to mitigate side effects.
However, the study raised more questions, moving "the field forward, even if very slowly."
In 1995, HUMC participated in a clinical study sponsored by
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
that focused on the use of bone marrow transplantation to treat women with advanced
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
. Pecora expressed his misgivings about only offering the procedure as part of the study, as there was a chance the patients would be chosen aspart of the
control group
In the design of experiments, hypotheses are applied to experimental units in a treatment group.
In comparative experiments, members of a control group receive a standard treatment, a placebo, or no treatment at all. There may be more than one tr ...
. He instead offered direct access to the popular new procedure as an alternative to participation in the trial, allowing the patients to choose. The procedure was later proven ineffective.
In 1998, Pecora started a version of the
problem-based learning
Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem found in trigger material. The PBL process does not focus on problem solving with a define ...
program at
UMDNJ
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) was a state-run health sciences institution of New Jersey, United States.
It was founded as the Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry in 1954, and by the 1980s was both a majo ...
. This was an adaptation of earlier programs that allows medical students to fulfill their early basic science course requirements by examining the actual case studies.
In 2009,
''The Record'' named Pecora among Hackensack's administration members with conflicts of interest, as they had ownership interests in companies with business dealings with the hospital.
In 2011, Pecora founded Cota Healthcare, a company to develop a classification system based on patient's "gender, age, family history, type and stage of disease, and treatments."
Notable publications
As of July 2021, Research Gate lists 136 peer-reviewed articles and 3,070 citations.
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References
Sources
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External links
* at John Theurer Cancer Center
Testimonyto the
Congressional Government Reform Committee on
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pecora, Andrew
1957 births
Living people
American oncologists
American hematologists
Nutley High School alumni
People from Nutley, New Jersey
Physicians from Newark, New Jersey
Seton Hall University alumni
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey alumni