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Harry A. Drabkin, M.D. Director, Hematology Oncology Division Mary Gilbreth Chair in Clinical Oncology

The Division of Hematology/ Oncology consists of 16 faculty members.  Ten of these individuals are full-time faculty with significant clinical commitments with one part-time faculty member who has retired from private practice and receives a nominal salary based on collections.  Two faculty members have no clinical commitments and are employed entirely in basic science activities at the bench.    Two additional faculty members that are employed entirely in basic science research are in Experimental Hematology, and have no clinical commitments.  One part-time faculty member who also sees patients in the private sector assists the Division in the outpatient sickle cell clinic twice monthly. The full-time faculty includes seven full Professors, four Associate Professors, four Assistant Professors and one Instructor.

Fifty percent of the Division's total effort is devoted to clinical activity at the Medical University, including the inpatient wards, consult services and the clinics at the Hollings Cancer Center, and at the affiliated Veterans Affairs Medical Center.  These activities include solid tumor oncology, benign and malignant hematology including Sickle Cell/Hemoglobinopathy, and Bone Marrow Transplant.  Three faculty members also practice a combined total of five half-days at the East Cooper Medical Arts Building, Mount Pleasant (in an outreach facility run by the Department of Medicine).  Chemotherapy infusion is also available at that site.  Collections derived from evaluation and management activities average $1.4 million/year.

Funded research activities account for 32% of the Division's overall activities.  Three members are funded by the NIH; one of these individuals also has VA research funds.  One faculty member who also serves as Director of the Hollings Cancer Center directs a Bioinformatics Core on a Department of Energy grant to the Cancer Center.  Another faculty member located in Experimental Hematology focuses on the clarification of physiological mechanisms of hematopoietic stem cells.  The remaining funds are derived from clinical trials or funded collaboration on other studies.

Funded administrative activities account for 13% of the Division's effort.  This includes Center and directorships as well as other significant administrative roles in the Hospital, Cancer Center and VA.  Other academic activities account for the remainder of the Division's effort.  These include teaching responsibilities, services on committees and unfunded administrative responsibilities.

The Division has a fully accredited Fellowship Program with ten accredited slots but we are funded for only nine slots.  The utilization of these nine funded slots equal three slots per year for a three year accredited training program.  These positions are supported by MUSC hospital and by the VA, like most of the Fellowship programs in this institution.  Efforts are underway to "diversify the portfolio" of Fellowship support.  In the current year, one slot was fully funded by pharmaceutical funds; a grant proposal for a similar amount of money has been submitted for next year.

There are six full-time faculty members engaged primarily in the practice of "solid tumor" Oncology.  One of these faculty members’ primary responsibilities is Director of Hollings Cancer Center.   There are also two faculty members who are non-clinician scientists whose interests are primarily oncologic.  A neuro-oncologist has recently been recruited.  His primary appointment will be in Neurology with a secondary appointment in this Division, and he will admit inpatients to the Medical Oncology ward team.  The remaining full-time faculty members are dual boarded in Hematology and Oncology and combine a mixture of Hematology and varying amounts of Oncology.  Of the remaining individuals who are dual boarded, two practice Hematology/Transplant primarily.

Multidisciplinary clinical programs (based in the Hollings Cancer Center) include programs in Head & Neck Cancer, Thoracic Oncology, Breast Cancer, and Gastrointestinal Cancer.  All of these programs have affiliations with basic science research groups focusing on the diseases of interest, and have associated tumor boards and conferences.  A neuro-oncology clinic opened in July 2006 with the recruitment of the new neuro-oncologist.

Inpatients are admitted to the Medical Oncology ward team, staffed by an Attending physician, resident, intern, and Fellow; or to the Hematology ward team, staffed by an Attending physician, resident, intern, Fellow and nurse practitioner.  Patients at the VA are admitted to general medical teams; Hematology Oncology follows as a consult service.

Two faculty members have currently been listed in "Best Doctors in America" in the last two years.  Three faculty members also hold significant funded administrative roles in the Hollings Cancer Center including its Directorship; while a third is Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the VA.

Areas of faculty research and scholarly activity include clinical, translational and basic science research.  Of the two faculty members that are one-hundred percent basic science research, one area of research includes studying tumor-induced immunosuppression to determine how cancers subvert anti-tumor immune defenses and how patients can overcome immune suppression.  The other area of research includes focusing on the role of the DRA (Down-Regulated in Adenoma and Adenocarcinoma) gene in colon cancer and normal colon mucosa homeostasis.