NEW YORK -- Shahin Rafii, an internationally acclaimed cancer and vascular biologist and stem cell authority at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC), has been named one of 43 new investigators by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The honor is bestowed annually on the nation's most promising and gifted biomedical scientists.

"I am very pleased to announce that our own Dr. Rafii is the first physician-scientist in Weill Cornell history to be named an HHMI investigator at the medical college," said Antonio Gotto Jr., dean of WCMC. "As both clinician and researcher, Dr. Rafii has the unique ability to conduct translational research -- to transmit groundbreaking research from bench to bedside efficiently and successfully. His innovative work on stem cells and angiogenesis promises to make lasting impact on the treatment of cancer and vascular diseases."

Rafii is the Arthur Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine and director of the Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics at WCMC. He developed the groundbreaking concept that tumors and regenerating or damaged organs recruit stem cells hibernating in the bone marrow to build new blood vessels. This discovery heralds the use of stem cell therapy as prospective treatment of vascular insufficiencies, such as heart attack, and of blood and vascular disorders, such as cancer. His most recent research, published in the March issue of the journal Circulation, demonstrates that a specific type of fetal stem cell can develop into functional vascularized muscle tissue -- a finding that could open the way to using stem cells to repair damaged hearts.

Rafii said he is motivated by his cancer patients to explore innovative therapeutic frontiers. The work in his lab suggests entirely new approaches to treating myeloma, leukemia and lymphoma -- and may soon enable higher, more effective doses of chemotherapy that do not induce severe toxicity. 

He received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Cornell in 1982 and his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1986.

"I am truly honored to join the HHMI, which will give me the scientific freedom to further understanding of stem cell biology, as well as the means to develop and test innovative approaches to treat cancer and vascular disorders," said Rafii. "I hope this award will advance our efforts to harness and exploit the therapeutic potential of stem cells for treatment of human malignancies, vascular diseases and genetic disorders in the very near future."

HHMI, a nonprofit medical research organization dedicated to the basic life sciences, was established in 1953 by Hughes, the aviator-industrialist, and is the largest privately funded education initiative in the United States.