October 16, 2015—(BRONX, NY)—Anne R. Bresnick, Ph.D., an acclaimed cancer researcher, has been named director of the Belfer Institute for Advanced Biomedical Studies at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, effective October 1. Dr. Bresnick, professor of biochemistry, succeeds Jonathan M. Backer, M.D., who was recently named chair of the department of molecular pharmacology at the College of Medicine.

Anne R. Bresnick, Ph.D.“Anne’s impressive research, along with her nearly 19-year teaching career at Einstein, makes her exceptionally qualified to mentor our next generation of young scientists,” said Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean. “Her well-known commitment to supporting and guiding students and early career scientists is a clear indicator that Anne will enrich the postdoctoral experience at Einstein and enhance the College of Medicine’s position as a preeminent training ground in biomedical science.”

The Belfer Institute for Advanced Biomedical Studies is dedicated to providing a focus for integrating postdoctoral training programs at Einstein and serving as an advocate for postdoctoral issues. The goal of the Belfer Institute is to provide the best possible scientific and social training environment for postdoctoral researchers.

Dr. Bresnick joined Einstein in 1985 as a graduate student in the department of anatomy and structural biology, after graduating from the University of Maryland the same year with a B.S. in biochemistry. She received her Ph.D. from Einstein in 1991 and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1996. Dr. Bresnick joined Einstein’s department of biochemistry faculty in 1996 as assistant professor and was appointed professor in 2008.

“Anne’s impressive research, along with her nearly 19-year teaching career at Einstein, makes her exceptionally qualified to mentor our next generation of young scientists.”

– Dean Allen M. Spiegel, M.D.

Dr. Bresnick’s research focuses on the S100A4 calcium-binding protein, which directly regulates tumor cell motility and tumor metastasis. Her studies are aimed at developing a treatment to improve the cancer survival rate of patients by preventing the disease from spreading to disparate locations in the body. As principal or co-principal investigator, she is currently supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program project grant and a NIH R01 grant. Dr. Bresnick’s work is also supported by the BioAccelerate NYC Prize, the New York State Department of Health Breast Cancer Research Program and the Department of Defense’s Prostate Cancer Research Program.

At Einstein, Dr. Bresnick has served on the Sue Golding Graduate admissions committee, the committee for the office of grant support, the faculty senate, and the faculty mentoring committee. She has chaired the faculty appointment and promotions committee and the department of biochemistry faculty search committee, and currently serves as chair of the College’s patent committee. She is a member of the American Society for Cell Biology and has served on multiple study sections and review panels for the NIH, as well as study sections for the Department of Defense and the American Heart Association.