professor in the departments of path-
ology and internal medicine and di-
rector of the Tissue and Molecular
Pathology Core of the Michigan Com-
prehensive Cancer Center, the GI
Spore Biosample Core, and the Mo-
lecular Pathology Research Labora-
tory in the Department of Pathology
at the University of Michigan Health
System. But his passion for molecular
pathology started here at Robert
Wood Johnson Medical School.
award with his medical degree as part
of the combined MD/PhD program.
He studied for his PhD with William
crobiology, whom he followed when
McAllister became chair, Department
of Microbiology and Immunology, at
SUNY Downstate Medical Center,
while maintaining his affiliation with
Rutgers University and Robert Wood
Johnson Medical School. Dr. Giordano
feels his experience in the combined-
degree program enhanced the direc-
tion his career took: "The opportuni-
ty to train in the combined MD/PhD
program at Robert Wood Johnson
Medical School and Rutgers provided
the foundation for the rest of my
career and opened the door to train in
anatomic pathology at the National
Institutes of Health (NIH)."
York City. Dr. Giordano has been a
faculty member of the University of
Michigan Medical School since 2001
and now directs several significant
cancer initiatives. He has been cited
not only for his work in thyroid can-
cer but also for the molecular classifi-
cation of adrenocortical tumors.
the University of Michigan received in
1999 from the National Cancer Insti-
tute (NCI) Director's Challenge Pro-
gram to study colon, lung, and ovary
carcinomas using oligonucleotide mi-
croarrays to develop gene expression
built upon the existing infrastructure
His project, through TCGA, was an
effort to identify patterns in the molec-
ular basis of cancer using genome
analysis. TCGA--a joint effort by the
NCI and the National Human Genome
Research Institute that is focused on
cancer genomics to improve cancer
care--maps the genetic changes in
cancers. At TCGA, Dr. Giordano has
worked with many bioinformatics
experts across North America, in what
he refers to as "team science." The
genome revolution." This observation by alumnus
in that revolution firsthand. Dr. Giordano's work on papil-
(TCGA), a project that he co-chairs, was recently published
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