July 10, 2017

Dr. Arthur E. “Art” Frankel, who led cancer research and clinical programs for three decades across the South, has been named chief of medical oncology at USA Mitchell Cancer Institute. Frankel joined MCI from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he oversaw Phase 1 Clinical Trials.

“Dr. Frankel’s training and experience are a great fit for the Mitchell Cancer Institute,” said MCI Director Dr. Michael A. Finan. “He will lead the Division of Medical Oncology to the next level of academic and research success.”

In addition, Frankel will be the first to hold the title of Arlene and Mayer Mitchell Chair in Medical Oncology, established with a gift from the Mayer and Arlene Mitchell Charitable Foundation.

Prior to joining UT Southwestern, Frankel was executive director of the Cancer Research Institute at Scott & White Hospital/Texas A&M School of Medicine. He had also served at Wake Forest University, the Medical University of South Carolina, the Florida Hospital Cancer and Leukemia Research Center, and Duke University.

Frankel is interested in helping oncologists and communities across south Alabama navigate the rapid advances in cancer care and the “explosion of knowledge” that comes with new treatments. “My first goal is to advance the quality of cancer care in Mobile and the entire Gulf Coast area,” he said.

Despite being smaller than some academic cancer centers, MCI can make a big difference through translational research and treatment. “You don’t have to be in New York, Boston or Houston to make discoveries that impact lives,” he said.

Frankel describes immunotherapy as the most important advance in the past decade against an ever-evolving cancer . “If you can activate the immune system, you can let the immune system to evolve at the same time the tumor is evolving,” he said. “It’s an even battle.”

The Austin, Texas, native earned his medical degree at Harvard University. He completed a research postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, and a residency and medical oncology fellowship at Stanford University.

Frankel is a co-inventor on 12 issued patents and has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals. His current research interests include melanoma, for which he is nationally renowned.

 

Source: http://www.usahealthsystem.com/body-mitchellcancerinstitute.cfm?id=5152&action=detail&ref=190

Image Credit: http://apr.org/post/forecast-legislators-final-week-session-mitchell-cancer-institute-building-new-center#stream/0