Roswell Park Appoints New Director of the Center for Personalized Medicine

Agnieszka Witkiewicz, MD, is also the Chief of Research and Biobanking

Highlights
  • Agnieszka Witkiewicz, MD, is the Director of Center for Personalized Medicine
  • She is also the Chief of Research & Biobanking in the Department of Pathology
  • Dr. Witkiewicz specializes in advancing therapies from the lab to the clinic

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Agnieszka Witkiewicz, MD, has been appointed as the Director of the Center for Personalized Medicine at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is also the Chief of Research and Biobanking in the Department of Pathology. Before coming to the cancer center, she worked at the University of Arizona as the Vice Chair of the Pathology Department, Director of the Gastrointestinal Pathology Fellowship Program, Director of Tissue Acquisition and Cellular/Molecular Analysis Shared Resource and Professor in the Department of Pathology.

Dr. Witkiewicz is an internationally recognized clinician-scientist who combines ground-breaking laboratory research with precision medicine. Her research interests include identifying mechanisms that drive the invasive progression of cancer, with a special focus on breast and pancreatic cancers. As the Director of the Center for Personalized Medicine, Dr. Witkiewicz and her team are using next-generation sequencing technologies to identify patients’ unique genetic profiles. This information allows clinicians and patients to precisely select the best treatment options based on the current scientific and clinical evidence.

“I’m very excited to be at Roswell Park. One of the things that drew me to the cancer center is that it invests in precision medicine. In my new roles, I look forward to identifying novel therapies for many types of cancer, with a focus on ones that are hard to treat. I’m also looking forward to helping clinicians pinpoint the most effective treatments based on the unique tumor profiles of their patients so that ultimately, people can heal and have a better quality of life,” says Dr. Witkiewicz.

As the inaugural Chief of Research and Biobanking, Dr. Witkiewicz will continue conducting critical cancer research and enhance cancer specimen acquisition for research studies. Tumor biobanking is crucial for conducting studies on how cancer develops and spreads, and the molecular basis for novel personalized therapies. 

“I am delighted that Dr. Witkiewicz has joined Roswell Park to lead the Center for Personalized Medicine. She has made major advances in developing new ways to understand the molecular landscape of cancer. Her skills and expertise will be invaluable in fostering our drive to deliver innovative personalized care to our patients and advance the field of precision genomic medicine. We are very happy to welcome her to the team at Roswell Park,” says Dr. Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, FRCOG, FACOG, Executive Director of the Center for Immunotherapy, Chair of the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Deputy Director of Roswell Park.

Dr. Witkiewicz has authored or co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and been awarded numerous grants. She holds an MD from Wroclaw Medical University in Poland and completed fellowships at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School in Boston and NYU Medical School in New York City.

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Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is a community united by the drive to eliminate cancer’s grip on humanity by unlocking its secrets through personalized approaches and unleashing the healing power of hope. Founded by Dr. Roswell Park in 1898, it is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. Learn more at www.roswellpark.org, or contact us at 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or ASKRoswell@roswellpark.org

Media Contact

Annie Deck-Miller, Senior Media Relations Manager
716-845-8593; annie.deck-miller@roswellpark.org