Peter T. Scardino, a urologic surgeon and internationally recognized authority on prostate cancer, has been named the new Chairman of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Department of Surgery. He succeeds Murray F. Brennan, who is stepping down from the post this month.
Dr. Scardino, who has served as the inaugural Chairman of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Department of Urology since 1999, is an expert in the prognosis, early detection, and surgical treatment of prostate cancer. He has developed techniques to decrease the effects of surgery on urinary and sexual function and to improve the chances of long-term control of cancer by the total removal of the prostate. Dr. Scardino and his colleagues also have pioneered the use of statistical models to predict both the natural progression of prostate cancer and how it will respond to treatment. These predictive tools, known as nomograms, help doctors to tailor treatment for individual men according to the specific characteristics of their cancer.
As a member of the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute, Dr. Scardino has focused on the identification of tissue and genetic markers that signal the behavior of prostate cancer. He also holds the Florence and Theodore Baumritter/Enid Ancell Chair of Urologic Oncology.
Board certified in urology, Dr. Scardino is an active member of the Institute of Medicine and the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons. A graduate of Yale University and Duke University School of Medicine, he completed residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a laboratory and clinical fellowship in surgery and urologic oncology at the National Cancer Institute. He then completed his urological residency at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine and later went on to serve as Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of Urology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
