John C. Ruckdeschel, M.D.
- Contact Address
- Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
4100 John R
Detroit, MI, 48201 - Contact Phone
- (313) 576-8670
- Contact E-Mail
- ruckdesc@karmanos.org
- Professional Affiliations
- Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
Program: Medical Oncology
- Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
- Expertise
- Lung Cancer
- Thoracic Oncology
- Appointments
- Senior Assistant Resident - Medicine Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA,
- Board Certification
- Internal Medicine
- Medical Oncology
- Biography
John C. Ruckdeschel, M.D. is president and chief executive officer of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Cancer Center, as well as associate dean of cancer affairs at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine. The Karmanos Cancer Institute is among 41 comprehensive cancer centers in the United States designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Since joining the Institute in October 2002, Dr. Ruckdeschel has achieved dramatic success on the organization’s strategic goals. As principal investigator of the Institute’s NCI core grant, he strengthened and reorganized the Institute’s research programs and administration leading, in 2004, to the best site visit score in its 26-year history as an NCI-designated center. This resulted in a five-year renewal of the prestigious comprehensive designation as well as a four-fold increase in yearly NCI funding. In 2005, Dr. Ruckdeschel completed negotiations with the DMC to enable the Institute to acquire the patient care facilities the Institute had managed with the DMC for more than a decade. The Institute assumed independent ownership and operation of its clinical programs and facilities on December 1, 2005 - the most significant clinical development in the Institute's 64-year history. Amid these major accomplishments to ensure the Institute’s continued excellence in cancer research and patient care, Dr. Ruckdeschel has initiated a major philanthropic fundraising effort to recruit leading physicians, scientists and staff, as well as to build outstanding facilities to make the Karmanos Cancer Institute one of the nation's top cancer centers in the United States within the decade. Before joining the Institute, Dr. Ruckdeschel was center director and chief executive officer at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa. In ten years, Ruckdeschel led the transformation of Moffitt from a small university cancer hospital into one of the world's leading cancer centers, earning Moffitt’s first-ever NCI designation as a comprehensive cancer center and building Moffitt’s widely respected research and clinical programs. An internationally recognized lung cancer physician and researcher who is consistently placed on the America's Top Doctors and Best Doctors lists, Dr. Ruckdeschel earned a B.S. in Biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and in 1971 completed his medical degree at the Albany Medical College. He interned at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, followed by a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Washington, D.C. He completed his residency at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital in 1976. Dr. Ruckdeschel is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, has written or co-written more than 350 publications, book chapters and abstracts, made over 250 invited presentations and has three active, as well as four pending, research grant awards. His clinical and research interests focus on lung cancer and behavioral oncology with a focus on patient-physician communication. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians as well as the American College of Chest Physicians and has served as a consultant to the National Cancer Institute and several university cancer centers. He chairs the external advisory boards for the Wake Forest and Penn State cancer centers.
- Mesothelioma Specialist
- This Physician is a mesothelioma specialist
