The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, part of Grand Blanc-based McLaren Health Care and a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, in conjunction with Wayne State University, have named Dr. Boris C. Pasche president and CEO of Karmanos as well as chair of the Department of Oncology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
With these leadership roles and pending formal NCI approval, Pasche will serve as the principal investigator (PI) of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Core Grant. Effective Aug. 28, he assumes the roles following the retirement of Dr. Gerold Bepler.
In this position, Pasche will set and implement the institute’s goals for the future growth and development of the Karmanos Cancer Institute. Duties will include planning and evaluation, scientific direction, community outreach and engagement, coordinated delivery of multidisciplinary clinical cancer care, advancement and development activities through the Karmanos Cancer Foundation, and organizational administration.
“To lead an organization recognized throughout the health care industry for its exceptional clinical care and significant contributions to advancing cancer research and treatment is an amazing opportunity and a tremendous responsibility,” says Pasche.
“I thank the leadership of Karmanos, McLaren, and Wayne State for their confidence that together we can continue to provide an exceptional level of clinical care to our patients and support the level of research necessary to bring novel therapies from our laboratories to the patient’s bedside in the fight against this terrible disease.”
Pasche comes to Karmanos from Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, N.C., where, in addition to his duties as an attending physician specializing in gastrointestinal malignancies, held additional leadership and academic positions, including the Charles L. Spurr Endowed Chair of Cancer Research, chairman of the Department of Cancer Biology, and director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, during which he oversaw an expansion that resulted in an increase of the program’s NCI funding by 97 percent.
Additionally, he directed the re-organization of its scientific programs and recruited 72 new faculty members. The efforts led to the successful renewal of the NCI core grant in 2016 and again in 2021.
“Dr. Pasche has demonstrated his proficiency to deliver and advance cancer care on a level that the physicians, researchers, and, most importantly, patients of Karmanos deserve,” says Philip A. Incarnati, president and CEO of McLaren Health Care. “We trust that his leadership will continue to progress the Karmanos mission and serve the needs of those who depend on it.”
The Karmanos Cancer Institute is one of 54 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States, a recognition it originally earned in 1978 and has since maintained. With 16 treatment centers, Karmanos cares for approximately 12,000 new patients every year through its statewide network, ensuring all patients receive evidence-based care and access to the latest screenings, prevention, and treatments.
Through its partnership with Wayne State University, Karmanos also manages advanced research and clinical trial programs, with more than 800 cancer-specific scientific investigations and 250 clinical trials that include the nation’s most diverse patient population.
In his capacity as president and CEO of Karmanos, Pasche also will chair the Department of Oncology for Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, where he will report to the dean of the medical school and work in collaboration with Wayne State’s Office of Research.
A native of Switzerland, Pasche earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and another M.D. degree from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Pasche completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the New York Hospital at Cornell University Medical Center, and he continued his clinical training with a hematology/oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with a second postdoctoral fellowship at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.
