(New York – January 13, 2017) Dolores Hambardzumyan, PhD, MBA, has been appointed Senior Faculty in the Department of Neurosurgery and a member of The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her research focuses on developing novel therapeutic pathways for the treatment of glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor that is among the most deadly forms of human cancer. She is also exploring the relationship between cancer cells and immune cells within the tumor. Dr. Hambardzumyan's laboratory explores the role of tumor-associated immune cells called macrophages in gliomas (a tumor that starts in the glial cells of the brain) using genetically engineered mouse models as well as cutting-edge imaging techniques and large-scale gene expression analysis.

"Our neurosurgery department fosters a close partnership between researchers and clinicians, and the addition of Dolores Hambardzumyan to our team further enhances our efforts to deliver cutting-edge treatments from the laboratory to the clinic," said Joshua Bederson, MD, the Leonard I. Malis, MD / Corinne and Joseph Graber Professor of Neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Chair of Neurosurgery for the Mount Sinai Health System.

"Despite the challenges in treating glioblastoma, the courage is getting up every day and working toward a cure," said Dr. Hambardzumyan. "I am excited to join a world-class neurosurgery department that strives to make a difference in patient's lives."
Dr. Hambardzumyan received her PhD in Biochemistry from the Buniatian Institute of Biochemistry, part of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. She received an MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School. Her postgraduate training included fellowships in cancer biology and radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a fellowship in neuronal plasticity and transplantation at INSERM, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. She has ongoing R01 and R21 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has 67 peer-reviewed contributions and is author of the chapter "Malignant Glioma" in the textbook Neuroglia, 3rd edition (2012).

The Department of Neurosurgery at the Mount Sinai Health System is internationally recognized as a leader in clinical neurosurgery, neurosurgery education, and neurosurgery research. The department has the largest volume of neurological surgeries in New York City. Neurosurgery and Neurology at The Mount Sinai Hospital were ranked 14th in the nation for neurological surgery in to the 2019-2020 "Best Hospitals" issue of U.S. News and World Report.

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