“We are pleased to be able to attract an individual of Baker’s stature for this important post,” says Max Wicha, center director. “He will bring not only exceptional clinical research expertise, but also strong leadership ability, having served for the last seven years as director of Wayne State University’s Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center.”
Baker hopes to help the U-M center become the premier center in the nation—both in patient care and in cancer research.
“I hope to be able to attract a number of clinicians who will focus their efforts on diagnosing and treating the more common cancers, such as breast, colon and lung, and work within existing U-M research teams. This will hasten the translation of research findings from the laboratory to the clinic, which is the ultimate goal in our war on cancer.”
Baker’s research recently has focused on the use of new drugs in the treatment of common epithelial cancers of the colon, breast and lung. In a National Cancer Center-funded project, Baker’s research team is investigating the efficacy of the drug PZA in women with ovarian cancer.
He is widely published in national and international journals, including Cancer, American Journal of Clinical Oncology, International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Cytometry, Journal of the National Cancer Institute and Cancer Chemotherapy.
Baker received his medical degree from the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in Des Moines, Iowa, and completed his fellowship at Wayne State University.