Carlos Cordon-Cardo

Carlos Cordon-Cardo (born February 25, 1957) is a Spanish-born American physician and scientist known for his research in experimental pathology and molecular oncology.

He holds the "Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given" Chair in Pathology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

He enrolled in the Autonomous University of Barcelona medical school in 1975 and received his MD in 1980.

With the encouragement of his mentor at the university and the assistance of a fellowship from the Spanish Government, he then went to Cornell University Medical College for graduate work in pathology, cell biology and genetics.

After earning his PhD from Cornell in 1985 with his dissertation Immunoanatomic Dissection of the Normal Human Adult Kidney and Urinary Tract, Cordon-Cardo became a research fellow in immunopathology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

While it had been previously thought that P-glycoprotein was unique to cancer cells, Cordon-Cardo showed in 1989 that it is also present in normal cells and is exploited by cancer cells to survive chemotherapy.

Cordon-Cardo married Alicia Bouzan in 1990.

In 1990, he was among the first to show that the mutated gene (RB) which causes the childhood cancer retinoblastoma is also present in some adults with sarcomas but no history of retinoblastoma.

He also found that the presence of the mutated gene in adult cancers was associated with a poor clinical outcome.

His 1994 research in collaboration with Arnold J. Levine was one of the first examples of how mutations in the gene which regulates the tumor suppressor p53 can lead to cancer by inactivating all the normal p53, thus allowing cancer cells to grow uncontrollably.

He worked there for over 20 years, creating the center's division of molecular pathology in 1995 and serving as its first director.

A later study by Cordon-Cardo in 1997 found that when mutated p53 and RB are both present in a tumor, it becomes very aggressive and resistant to most treatments.

Among Cordon-Cardo's most frequently cited scientific papers are:

His single-authored book chapters include:

In the article, for which he won an award from the Spanish Society of Oncology, he highlighted the resources available for cancer patients and "described his feelings of fear after the diagnosis, overcoming the dread, and the support from his wife, doctors, nurses, and friends" during his treatment in 2002–2003.

In 2006, he joined the faculty of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons as Chernow Professor of Clinical Urological Sciences and Professor of Clinical Pathology and Cell Biology in the Institute for Cancer Genetics.

In an effort to overcome the stigma of cancer in his native Spain he wrote an article about his experiences for the Sunday magazine of the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia in 2006.

In 2006 Cordon-Cardo was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and in 2012 received the Cornell Medical College Distinguished Alumni Award "in recognition of distinguished, lifelong contributions to biomedical research and education."

Considered one of the pioneers in oncologic molecular pathology and the mechanisms of tumor suppression, Cordon-Cardo has authored or co-authored over 500 academic papers and numerous book chapters.

A breast cancer survivor and active in a number of cancer charities, Alicia Bouzan-Cordon died in 2009 from a rare lung disease.

The couple had two children.

Cordon-Cardo is himself a survivor of colon cancer to which he had a genetic predisposition.

Cordon-Cardo was born in Calella, a seaside town in the Province of Barcelona and was determined to study medicine and pathology from his childhood days when he asked for a microscope for his 10th birthday.

He remained at Columbia until 2011 when he moved to Mount Sinai School of Medicine to become the "Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given" Professor of Pathology.

He is on the Thomson ISI list of the top 250 researchers in Clinical Medicine and in 2013 was named to the list compiled by Stanford University and SciTech Strategies of the world's 400 most influential bio-medical scientists.

According to Dean F. Bajorin of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center:

"He was the first investigator to identify genetically distinct pathways for superficial and muscle-invasive bladder cancers. The underpinnings for these pathways were based on over a decade of studies elucidating genetic perturbations seen in low and high-grade tumors. These pathways now serve as a template for modern studies."

Several findings from Cordon-Cardo's research at Sloan Kettering have had specific implications for the treatment of cancer and experimental cancer treatment and have led to more personalized therapies, particularly for cancers of the genitourinary system.

2017 retraction.

http://mcb.asm.org/content/37/18/e00365-17.short