Title

Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA

Phone

(215) 614-0984

Education

1. A.B., European History, Brown University, 1985
2. M.D., Cornell University Medical College, 1989

Residency

Internal Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Fellowship

Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Board Certifications

1. Internal Medicine
2. Pulmonary Medicine
3. Critical Care Medicine

Clinical Expertise

Thoracic Oncology, specifically lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma and mediastinal tumors

Website

Biography/CV (will open new window)

Dr. Sterman received his A.B. in European History from Brown University in 1985, and his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1989. He then pursued his Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania from 1989-1992; followed by an Instructorship in Emergency Medicine also at HUP from 1992-93. Subsequently, Dr. Sterman received fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center from 1993-1997. While a fellow, he received advanced training in Interventional Bronchoscopy and Pleuroscopy with Dr. Michael Unger at Pennsylvania Hospital, and with Dr. Larry Kaiser of the HUP Division of General Thoracic Surgery. In addition, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Thoracic Oncology Research Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center under the tutelage of Dr. Steven Albelda. After spending two years in the Thoracic Oncology Laboratories working with Drs. Albelda and Kaiser, he joined the faculty at PENN in 1997 as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary Division and was the recipient of a NIH Clinical Associate Physician Award. Dr. Sterman is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, and Critical Care Medicine.

Dr. Sterman is currently Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Professor of Medicine in Surgery, and the Director of the PENN Interventional Pulmonology Program and Clinical Director of the Thoracic Oncology Gene Therapy Program of the Center for Lung Cancer and Related Disorders of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. Dr. Sterman has advanced training in the following techniques: flexible and rigid bronchoscopy; balloon bronchoplasty, endobronchial stent placement (metal, hybrid, and silicone), endobronchial brachytherapy, photodynamic therapy, auto-fluorescence bronchoscopy (LIFE), transbronchial needle aspiration/biopsy, bronchoscopic electrosurgery (including APC), endobronchial ultrasound (radial and convex probe), percutaneous tracheotomy, and pleuroscopy. His clinical interests are related to the treatment of thoracic malignancies, specifically as they apply to the synergy of molecular medicine and novel technologies in Interventional Pulmonology. His research interests are in the translation of laboratory discoveries from the bench to the bedside: conducting human clinical trials of gene therapy and vaccine therapy for lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other pleural malignancies.

Dr. Sterman is the lead clinical investigators in the multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Research Group at Penn and has been the Principal Investigator of Project 1 (Clinical Trials Project) for this NCI Program Project Grant since 1998. He is currently the sponsor and Principal Investigator of the ongoing Ad.IFN-beta gene therapy trial aimed at cancer patients with mesothelioma and metastatic pleural disease. In addition, he has led a number of other industry-sponsored cancer clinical trials, all with extramural funding. He served as the Principal Investigator at Penn of a series of Multicenter Phase II Clinical Trials, sponsored by Cell Genesys, Inc, evaluating patient-specific lung cancer vaccines. He is currently participating in a multicenter, randomized, double-blinded Phase III clinical trial of a recombinant MUC-1 vaccine for Stage III NSCLC patients with stable/responding disease status post definitive chemoradiotherapy.

More recently, in collaboration with other members of the clinical trials group from the Thoracic Oncology Research Laboratory, composed of members from Pulmonary Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Thoracic Surgery, Dr. Sterman is conducting a series of trials focused on the concept of genetic immunotherapy for thoracic malignancies (bronchogenic, carcinoma, mesothelioma, metastatic pleural disease). The hallmark of this program is our ongoing Phase I clinical trial of intrapleural adenovirus mediated human interferon gene transfer for patients with pleural malignancies. Dr. Sterman and colleagues are developing trial involving delivery of the interferon-alpha gene via adenoviral vector, with the goal of combining this experimental treatment with standard combination chemotherapy, based upon success in pre-clinical studies.

In addition, Dr. Sterman and colleagues will be initiating a multicenter Phase I trial of intravenous delivery of a recombinant, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes bacterial vector expressing the gene for human Mesothelin, a cell surface protein expressed on 50% of non-small cell lung cancers and nearly 100% of mesotheliomas. He is also developing, with Dr. Steven Albelda, a clinical trial of bronchoscopic injection of a recombinant, replication competent Vaccinia viral vector expressing the human GM-CSF gene with patients with refractory small cell and non-small cell carcinoma of the lung, which will be enrolling patients in 2008.

Dr. Sterman has also been involved in pioneering clinical research projects aimed at developing advanced bronchoscopic techniques to treat diseases such as tracheomalacia, severe asthma, and emphysema.

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