Dr. Roodman also will be the Kenneth Wiseman Professor of Medicine at IU and is a researcher with the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. He begins his duties Nov. 15 pending approval by the Trustees of Indiana University.
“We are extremely excited about the arrival of Dr. Roodman to lead the Division of Hematology Oncology. Dave is an internationally recognized leader in bone and myeloma research, a well-established investigator in the VA system, and has years of administrative experience as former vice-chair for research at Pittsburgh,” said David W. Crabb, M.D., John B. Hickam Professor of Medicine and chair of the IU Department of Medicine.
“His recruitment was only possible with strong support from the IU Simon Cancer Center and the Lilly Physician Scientist Initiative. Dave’s contributions will strengthen the School of Medicine team which is dedicated to finding cures and providing exceptional treatment to our patients,” Dr. Crabb said.
A specialist in diseases of the bone, Dr. Roodman (pronounced ROOD-man) has been at the forefront of research into understanding the role of the bone marrow microenvironment in promoting hematologic malignancies. His research also looks at osteoclasts and osteoblasts, which are responsible for bone growth and bone resorption. He holds three National Institutes of Health grants, and funding from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the U.S. Department Veterans Affairs.
Four researchers from his lab in Pennsylvania will move with him in November to staff his lab on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, and more investigators may join them. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Roodman has received significant financial support for his research, including more than $13.2 million in grant funding from the NIH.
A highly respected researcher, Dr. Roodman is the recipient of incentive funding made possible through Lilly Endowment’s gift to create the Physician Scientist Initiative. To capitalize on the unique talents that skilled investigators with medical degrees bring to scientific research, the IU School of Medicine created the Initiative, which is supported by a $60 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.
Dr. Roodman said he was drawn to join the IU faculty because of the strength of the bone disease program and the University’s researchers, clinicians and leadership.
“Indiana University has a world class bone (disease) group and a very strong hematologic malignancies program,” said Dr. Roodman. “I hope to take advantage of that outstanding talent and organization already in place to build hematology oncology into an even stronger translational research program and recruit additional physician investigators to make the IU Simon Cancer Center a leader in the field.”
Dr. Roodman has published more than 500 articles, book chapters, abstracts and editorials and serves on multiple editorial boards for professional journals, as well as being on the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Myeloma Foundation.
A native of Louisville, Ky., Dr. Roodman currently is a professor of medicine and vice chairman for research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine and director of the Myeloma Program and the Bone Biology Center at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. He has been on faculty there for 10 years and previously worked for 21 years at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the Audie Murphy Veterans Administration Hospital in San Antonio, Texas.
He attended the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and received a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Kentucky. His postdoctoral training included an internship in internal medicine at the University of Kentucky and a residency in medicine and a hematology fellowship at the University of Minnesota.