Abate-Shen Lab

About Dr. Abate-Shen

After completing her Ph.D. at Cornell University Medical College, Dr. Cory Abate-Shen pursued post-doctoral training under the mentorship of Dr. Tom Curran at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology. There, her landmark work on redox regulation of the Fos and Jun proto-oncoproteins served as the foundation for many subsequent studies on redox control of oncogenic transcriptional regulatory proteins.

Dr. Abate-Shen began her independent career in 1991 as an Assistant Professor at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (now Rutgers Medical School). She rose quickly through the ranks and was appointed Associate Professor with tenure in 1997, Professor in 2001, and founding Chief of the newly-created Division of Research in the Department of Medicine in 2002. In 1999, Dr. Abate-Shen founded the Prostate Program for The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and served as its co-leader for the duration of her time at UMDNJ.

In 2007, Dr. Abate-Shen was recruited to Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons as the Michael and Stella Chernow Professor of Urological Oncology, at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC), with appointments in the Departments of Urology, Pathology & Cell Biology, Medicine, Systems Biology, and the Institute of Cancer Genetics. She was an Associate Director of the HICCC from 2008-2017, and served as its Interim Director from 2011-2012 and in 2017-2018.

In 2019, Dr. Abate-Shen was appointed as Chair of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the Robert Sonneborn Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Abate-Shen was the first female chair of a basic science department that had been appointed at the medical school for more than 30 years. Since assuming the role of chair, she has worked to re-invigorate and modernize the department with a new strategic vision and a major investment in recruitment and infrastructure.

As a cancer biologist, Dr. Abate-Shen is an internationally-recognized leader in genitourinary malignancies. Her innovative studies of genetically-engineered mouse models of prostate and bladder cancer have led to the discovery of new biomarkers for early detection, as well as advances in cancer prevention and treatment. In recognition of her achievements, Dr. Abate-Shen has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Sinsheimer Scholar Award, an NSF Young Investigator Award, and an American Cancer Society Research Professorship. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and most recently a recipient of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship.

Dr. Abate-Shen has been invited to present her work at more than 100 institutions and conferences in the United States and in Europe and has organized symposia, scientific conferences and “think tanks” for the American Association of Cancer Research, the Jackson Laboratories and the National Cancer Institute. She has contributed influential and highly cited reviews for Nature, Nature Reviews Cancer, Genes and Development, and Cancer Cell, and has edited books on modeling cancer in mice. Dr. Abate-Shen has served on the editorial board of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Cancer Research, and has been deputy and senior editor of Cancer Prevention Research.

Dr. Abate-Shen has served in numerous leadership roles including the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute, the Blue Ribbon Panel Working Group for the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. Abate-Shen has also participated extensively in national grant reviews for the NIH and the Department of Defense, and has served as chair of the NIH Molecular Oncology Study Section.

Dr. Abate-Shen is also a committed teacher and mentor. She has trained ten Ph.D. students, more than forty postdoctoral fellows, and numerous medical and undergraduate students. Most of her trainees have been successful in receiving grant funding and obtaining independent positions in academia or industry, and have themselves been the recipients of numerous awards and fellowships.

Education

  • 1983 – 1988 Ph.D., Neurobiology, Cornell University Medical College, Graduate School of Medical Science, New York, NY

  • 1979 – 1983 B.A., Psychology, Summa Cum Laude, Fordham University, The College at Lincoln Center, New York, NY

Research Experience

  • 2019 – present: Chair, Department of Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

  • 2015 – present: Professor, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • 2014 – present: Associate Member, Institute of Cancer Genetics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

  • 2013 – present: Professor, Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • 2013 – 2017: Leader, Prostate Program, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center

  • 2011 – 2012, 2017 – 2018: Interim Director, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

  • 2008 – 2017: Associate Director, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

  • 2007 – 2019: Director of Research, Department of Urology, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • 2007 – present: Professor (with Tenure), Departments of Urology and Pathology & Cell Biology, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • 2002 – 2007: Chief, Division of Developmental Medicine and Research, Department of Medicine, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

  • 2001 – 2007: Professor (with Tenure), Departments of Neuroscience & Cell Biology and Medicine, UMDNJ – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

  • 1997 – 2001: Associate Professor (with Tenure), Department of Neuroscience, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

  • 1995 – 2007: Member, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey

  • 1991 – 2007: Resident Member, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine

  • 1991 – 1997: Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience & Cell Biology, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

  • 1988 – 1991: Postdoctoral Fellow, Molecular Oncology & Virology, Roche Inst. of Molecular Biology (Mentor: Tom Curran)

  • 1983 – 1988: Graduate Research Assistant, Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Cornell University Medical College (Mentor: Tong H. Joh)

Honors and Awards

  • 2023 Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship Award, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

  • 2019-2020 Fellow, Class of Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program

  • 2019 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science

  • 2015 – 2017 Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network Innovator Award

  • 2011 – 2021 American Cancer Society Research Professor

  • 2008 – 2019 Michael and Stella Chernow Professor in Urological Oncology

  • 1993 – 1998 National Science Foundation (NSF) Young Investigator Award

  • 1993 Women in Cell Biology Junior Award, American Society for Cell Biology

  • 1993 – 1998 Basil O’Connor Research Scholar

  • 1992 – 1995 Sinsheimer Scholar Award

  • 1987 Vincent du Vigneaud Award for Excellence in Graduate Research

  • 1983 Summa Cum Laude, Fordham University, The College at Lincoln Center