Penn State College of Medicine recently welcomed Dr. Raymond J. Hohl as the new director of Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute. Hohl is a medical oncologist, hematologist and clinical pharmacologist and has broad experience as a clinical and translational researcher.
Hohl will present his inaugural lecture, “Isoprenoids and Cancer Therapeutics,” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, in the Junker Auditorium on the Penn State Hershey campus. A reception will be held in the anteroom following the lecture.
Hohl’s research focuses on the isoprenoid pathway as it applies to human health and disease, specifically as related to cancers. His work has increased understanding of how isoprenoids, which are the intermediates and derivatives of the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway, alter critical cellular functions such as proliferation as well as the malignant phenotype. His laboratory manipulates this pathway for anti-cancer activities and has advanced two classes of isoprenoids for the treatment of human brain tumors and prostate cancers. His works spans the very basic to therapeutic studies and his clinical trials have supported the FDA approval of some anti-cancer drugs.
Hohl received his doctor of medicine and doctor of philosophy degrees from Rush Medical College and his clinical internal medicine and hematology/oncology training at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute he was at the University of Iowa for 23 years. His research has been continuously funded during that period and he is an international expert in isoprenoid metabolism.