Charis Eng, MD, PhD, FACP: ASHG Board of Directors

My research team identifies the genes involved in causing cancers and other diseases to gain a better understanding of how cells function in health and disease. Our work can be described as ‘genetics to keep healthy people healthy.’ - Charis Eng, MD, PhD, FACP

	Chair and Director, Cleveland Clinic Genomic Medicine Institute
	Professor and Vice Chairman, Department of Genetics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
	Clinical Science Committee Chair, Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC)

Major Research Interests:

Dr. Eng uses biochemical and computational technologies to identify and understand genes that cause susceptibility to traditional and complex heritable cancer syndromes to determine their role in transforming normal cells into cancer, and to translate how this information might relate to inform the creation of future clinical applications. Her major research interests include:

• Clinical research on cancer genetics:

  • The genetics of (breast) cancer tumor development, growth and treatment

  • The genetics of stromal proliferation (connective tissue growth) in tumors

  • Heritable predisposition to cancer

   

• Translational research (which attempts to translate research in genetics to clinical care and treatment of patients)

  • Biochemical technology and research methods

  • Computational technology and research methods

  • Genomic medicine toolbox

  • Genomics-based personalized healthcare

Biography:

Dr. Charis Eng is the Chair and founding Director of the Genomic Medicine Institute (GMI) of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, founding Director and attending clinical cancer geneticist of the institute’s clinical component, the Center for Personalized Genetic Healthcare (CPGH) and Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She holds a joint appointment as Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and is a full member of Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Center and a member of the CASE Comprehensive Cancer Center. She was recently honored by the designation National Scholar of the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute of The Ohio State University, and continues to hold an honorary appointment at the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Eng’s research interests may be broadly characterized as clinical cancer genetics translational research. Her work on RET testing in multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 and the characterization of the widening clinical spectra of PTEN gene mutations have been acknowledged as the paradigm for the practice of clinical cancer genetics.

Dr. Eng grew up in Singapore and Bristol, UK and entered the University of Chicago at the age of 16. After completing an MD and PhD at its Pritzker School of Medicine, she specialized in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston and trained in medical oncology at Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She was formally trained in clinical cancer genetics at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Marsden NHS Trust, UK, and in laboratory-based human cancer genetics by Bruce Ponder, MB, PhD. At the end of 1995, Dr. Eng returned to the Farber as Assistant Professor of Medicine, and in January, 1999 was recruited by The Ohio State University as Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Clinical Cancer Genetics Program. In 2001, she was honored with the conferment of the Davis Professorship and appointed Co-Director of the Division of Human Genetics in the Department of Internal Medicine. In 2002, she was promoted to Professor and Division Director, and was conferred the Klotz Endowed Chair. She moved to the Cleveland Clinic in Sept, 2005. Dr. Eng has published over 250 peer reviewed original papers in such journals as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, Nature Genetics, Nature and Molecular Cell.

She has received numerous awards and honors including election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, to the Association of American Physicians and as Fellow of AAAS, the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award and named a Local Legend from Ohio bestowed by the American Medical Women’s Association in conjunction with the US Senate on women physicians who have demonstrated commitment, originality, innovation and/or creativity in their fields of medicine.

She was the North American Editor of the Journal of Medical Genetics from 1998 to 2005, is Senior Editor of Cancer Research and Associate Editor of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Dr. Eng has recently been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) and began serving a 4-year term on the Board of Scientific Directors of the National Human Genome Research Institute beginning in Fall 2007.