The Risk Assessment Team at Fox Chase Cancer Center

The Department of Clinical Genetics

A leader in cancer prevention and risk assessment, Fox Chase Cancer Center established one of the first risk programs in the country in 1991 for individuals with a family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer. This program served as a model for others around the country and led to risk assessment services at Fox Chase for other types of cancers including prostate, GI and lung cancers as well as melanoma.

Today, our Department of Clinical Genetics builds on this pioneering spirit to offer the most comprehensive risk assessment program in the Philadelphia region. It encompasses all of Fox Chase’s clinical services for healthy people at risk for cancer, as well as innovative research in the areas of cancer prevention and genetics.

 

Mary B. Daly, MD, PhD, FACP
Chair, Department of Clinical Genetics
Timothy R. Talbot Jr. Chair for Cancer Research
Co-Leader, Keystone Program in
Personalized Risk and Prevention
Dr. Daly is the Chair of the Department of Clinical Genetics. Her main focus is women's health. Dr. Daly is the founder of the Margaret Dyson Family Risk Assessment Program, evaluating preventive approaches to breast and ovarian cancer. Her primary areas of research include the epidemiologic and genetic aspects of breast and ovarian cancer, and the translation of this information into effective cancer prevention.

Hossein Borghaei, DO
Director, Lung Cancer Risk
Dr. Borghaei’s clinical expertise is in lung cancer, lymphoma (T and B cells), monoclonal antibody, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy cancer vaccine. His research is focused on the production of monoclonal antibodies against novel targets in tumor blood vessels.

Veda N. Giri, MD
Director, Prostate Cancer Risk
Dr. Giri is Assistant Professor in Cancer Prevention and Control, Medical Oncology, and Clinical Genetics. Her clinical expertise is in the areas of breast cancer; prostate cancer; and cancer genetics.

Dr. Giri’s research interests include the genetic, molecular and proteomic pathways involved in cancer susceptibility, especially prostate cancer.

 

Michael J. Hall, MD
Director, Gastrointestinal Risk
Dr. Hall specializes in cancers of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, with a specific interest in pancreas, small bowel, and colon tumors. Dr. Hall's recent research has focused on the risk of pancreatic cancer in BRCA 1/2 mutation carriers, risk communication, racial/ethnic disparities in genetic testing, and the costs and benefits of pharmacogenomic and other genetic testing in the treatment of cancer.

Paula D. Ryan, MD, PhD
Director, Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk
Dr. Ryan is an expert in breast cancer, cancer risk assessment and prevention, hereditary cancer syndromes and medical ethics. Prior to joining the Women’s Cancer Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center she practiced for ten years in the breast oncology group at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, specializing in the care of breast malignancies and the clinical management of patients with specific inherited gene mutations, which place them at high risk for cancer.

Nursing Team

The Risk Assessment Program Nurses perform a variety of roles in research and clinical care of high risks patients. The nurses provide cancer risk assessment, education and counseling. They help evaluate family and medical history and, if appropriate help coordinate genetic testing. The nurses also see patients in our high risk clinics for medical management, cancer screening and risk reduction.

Genetic Counselors

Your genetic counselor will review your medical and family history in order to determine the personal and possibly inherited factors that could affect your risk to develop certain cancers.  They will help you understand the influence of these different risk factors and help to coordinate genetic testing, if appropriate.