When Andrew L. Pecora, M.D., F.A.C.P., was named chairman and executive administrative director of The Cancer Center in 2001, he elevated cancer care to the department level and reorganized cancer services into 15 separate divisions specializing in the types of cancer and cancer treatments. His accomplishments at The including the aggressive recruitment of cancer superstars from all over the United States, the addition of innovative basic research and clinical trials, the expansion of patient care services, and the acquisition of new state-of-the-art technology that is not available in other areas of thehave helped make The Cancer Center the largest program in New Jersey and the one named number 6 in a Top 10 cancer care listing by a survey of 1,000 physicians for New York magazine's inaugural survey.
A hematologist/oncologist, Dr. Pecora is recognized internationally as one of the world's foremost experts in blood and marrow stem cell transplantation, cellular medicine, and immunology research. In 1989, he spearheaded the development of The Cancer Center's Adult Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program and is responsible for many advancements used in stem cell transplantation today. Dr. Pecora's current research involves developing vaccines and other cellular medicine techniques that boost the capabilities of a patient's own immune system to fight cancer and targeted therapies that destroy cancer cells yet spare healthy ones. He has published his research extensively in prestigious medical journals and is a frequently requested lecturer at conferences all over the world. Dr. Pecora's award-winning research is funded by the National Cancer Institute, Amgen, Merck, and the AHEPA Research Foundation.

• Senior Scientist, David Joseph Jurist Research Center for Tomorrows Children, Hackensack University Medical Center
• Professor of Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School
• Medical Education: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School
• Internship: Internal Medicine, Cornell Cooperating Hospitals (The New York Hospital)
• Residency: Internal Medicine, The New York Hospital
• Fellowship: Hematology/oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City
• Board Certifications: internal medicine, hematology, medical oncology
• Specializations: Stem cell transplantation, immunotherapy, hematology/oncology, cellular medicine
• Research Interests: Novel non-cytotoxic anti-neoplastic agents, including cancer vaccines, replication competent viruses, and targeted therapies; laboratory and clinical development of engineered blood and marrow stem cell grafts for autologous and allogeneic transplantation. Major research includes:
• anti-cancer vaccines containing a live safe virus called PV701 to treat colon, pancreatic, kidney, breast, lung, head and neck, skin, ovarian, and bladder cancers. PV701 performs two important functions in cancer treatment: 1. It homes in on cancer cells and destroys them while sparing normal cells (unlike chemotherapy, which destroys normal cells as well). 2. It stimulates the patient's own immune system to attack the cancer cells.
• improvements in stem cell transplantation, including refinements in the procedure and the stem cells used intransplants for persons who cannot tolerate the rigors of regular transplantation, and new ways to combine transplantation with other treatment methods
• Honors/Awards: Who's Whoand Who&#39 Castle and Connelly's ;America&#39 New York magazine'sand New Jersey Monthly magazine's the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Hero Award; American Cancer Society Physicians in the Forefront Award
• Memberships: Amgen Northeast Oncology Business Consultants' Board, Medical Advisory Board-Bone Marrow Foundation, New Jersey Working Group to Improve Outcomes in Cancer Patients, Medical Affiliates Board-Cure for Lymphoma Foundation, Foundation for The Accreditation of Hematopoietic Therapy