Pierluigi Porcu, MD, has been selected to serve as division chief for hematology and blood and marrow transplantation (Hem BMT) in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine. He will also serve as associate director for clinical translation for the UK Markey Cancer Center and will lead a wet-bench laboratory focused on the development and bidirectional translation of new biomarkers and immunotherapies for T-cell malignancies and virus-associated lymphomas. His appointment is effective Sept. 15.
In partnership with internal medicine leadership, Dr. Porcu will also work on assembling and supporting teams of researchers and clinicians focused on transdisciplinary science at UK, with a focus on normal and malignant hematopoiesis, immune cell development, and immuno-oncology. Dr. Porcu currently serves as professor and division director of hematologic malignancies and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the Department of Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He is also the leader of the immune cell regulation and targeting (IRT) program of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (SKCCC) and co-leader of the SKCCC’s Blood Cancer Center of Excellence (BCCE).
With more than two decades of experience in academic medicine at The Ohio State University and at Thomas Jefferson University, Dr. Porcu is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded physician scientist who has held senior roles in clinical trials, translational research, oncology operations, mentoring, and fundraising at two NCI -designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. As division director at TJU, Dr. Porcu was at the forefront of a period of explosive growth and of unprecedented research integration within Jefferson Health’s large matrixed health enterprise.
An internationally recognized expert in T-cell lymphoma and virus-associated blood cancers, Dr. Porcu serves as global coordinating investigator or chair on numerous advisory boards and clinical trial steering committees. He has been honored with multiple awards, including the Research Career Achievement Award and the Dean’s Award for Faculty Mentoring at Sidney Kimmel Medical College. As a junior faculty at The Ohio State University, he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Dr. Porcu is a seasoned fundraiser and received the TJU’s Office of Institutional Advancement Partner in Philanthropy Award.
He has been continuously listed among U.S. News & World Report’s Top Cancer Doctors in America, Newsweek’s Top Hematology Doctors, and has been named to Philadelphia magazine’s Top Doctors list since 2016.
Dr. Porcu earned his medical degree from the University of Torino in Italy and completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in hematology-oncology at Indiana University in Indianapolis, where he was a T32 fellow, received a SmithKline Beecham Research Fellowship Award, and was named chief fellow. His early research included work on the role of hematopoietic growth factors in the growth of leukemia cells, and he later conducted postdoctoral research in the lab of Dr. Renato Baserga at both Temple University and TJU.
The UK College of Medicine and Markey Cancer Center welcome Dr. Porcu’s leadership in advancing cancer care and research across the Commonwealth.
The department of internal medicine and Markey Cancer Center thank Dr. Gregory Monohan for his service as interim division chief of Hem BMT and his commitment to serving the people of Kentucky.