Ralph deVere White to head leading organization for urologic cancer specialists

Ralph deVere White, director of the UC Davis Cancer Center, has been named president-elect of the Society of Urologic Oncology, the leading organization dedicated to developing new treatment strategies for urologic cancers.

DeVere White is professor and chair of urology and associate dean for cancer programs at UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center. He is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters and serves on the editorial boards of six international scientific journals. Over the past decade, he has been the principal investigator on research grants totaling nearly $6 million. His research focuses on the genetic mistakes that give rise to prostate cancer, the biomolecular mechanisms that make some prostate cancers more virulent than others, and new methods of diagnosing and treating prostate cancer.

"I am excited by the opportunity, working through the Society of Urologic Oncology, to continue to move our field forward with the aim of improving urologic cancer care for all," deVere White said.

The Society of Urologic Oncology is a professional society representing urologic surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and researchers with a primary focus on urologic cancer. Created in 1984, the society enables qualified members primarily interested in the care of patients with malignant genitourinary diseases to meet for the purpose of discussion, development and implementation of ideas to improve care. The society publishes the journal Urologic Oncology.

DeVere White is past chair of the U.S. Department of Defense Integrated Panel for Prostate Cancer Research, past chair of the Southwest Oncology Group Applied Basic Research Committee and past president of the Urological Research Society.

He is a member of the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons. Surgeons are elected into this professional organization based on their outstanding contributions to urology. The highly selective society has only 25 members. DeVere White is also an elected member of the prestigious American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons.

He has been named multiple times as one of "The Best Doctors in America." He is one of four urologists serving as a volunteer consultant to the American Cancer Society's on-line "Experts Answers" bulletin board for questions about prostate cancer.

DeVere White will succeed W. Marston Linehan as society president. Linehan is branch chief of the Urologic Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute. DeVere White was voted president-elect at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association this spring in San Antonio.

UC Davis Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center serving California's Central Valley and inland northern counties, an area the size of Pennsylvania. Its integrated cancer research program with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory comprises 179 scientists from the biological sciences, bioengineering, physics, veterinary medicine, agricultural sciences and nutrition, among other disciplines.

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Media Contact:
Claudia Morain, UC Davis Cancer Center: (916) 734-9023
E-mail: claudia.morain@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu

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UC Davis Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-designated center between San Francisco and Portland, Ore., is a program of the UC
Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center.

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