Goldberg retiring from WVU Cancer Institute

Richard M. Goldberg, MD, will be retiring from his position as West Virginia University Cancer Institute’s (WVUCI) Director, and Director of the WVU Cancer Signature Program effective January 1, 2020. For the past three years he represented the Cancer Institute as a member of WVU health sciences Vice President and Executive Dean, Clay Marsh’s leadership team and has held the Laurence S. and Jean J. DeLynn Chair of Oncology. As WVUCI’s Director, he oversees the clinical, research, and teaching missions of the cancer institute and its component organizations that include satellite clinical and clinical research locations that are dispersed throughout WV. Following his retirement, he plans to continue to play a supportive role in mentoring faculty and serving as a resource to the Cancer Institute’s leadership. He and his wife, Lynda, expect to continue to reside in Morgantown.

Considered an international leader in gastrointestinal cancer treatment and research as well as in leadership of cancer programs in academic medicine, Dr. Goldberg has been principal investigator, co-PI, co-investigator and mentor on multiple research and training grants funded through the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He has published more than 347 papers in peer-reviewed journals and been the author of 26 book chapters. His clinical interests are in the management of patients with malignancies in the gastrointestinal tract.

“It has been a distinct honor and privilege to lead this growing Institute that will continue to grow into the future,” Goldberg said. “We have recruited a vibrant group of new faculty members and other professionals who support the clinical, educational, and research missions and this has been recognized by increasing national prominence and patient demand for our clinical services. I know the WVU Cancer Institute will continue to grow in stature and be an integral part of WVU and WVU Medicine.”

His research focused on defining new treatments, elucidating inherited cancer susceptibility, and identification of predictive and prognostic factors in GI cancers. He helps to lead the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology as the Associate Group Chair of this NCI funded organization that is a member of the National Clinical Trials Network. The Alliance conducts clinical trials and does translational research across the US and Canada.

He is a graduate of Harvard University, earning an undergraduate degree cum laude in biology in 1975 and received his medical degree from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in 1989 where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society.

Prior to his arrival at WVU in 2017, he served as physician in chief of both the James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University (OSU) and, prior to that of the North Carolina Cancer Hospital at the UNC in Chapel Hill (UNC). He was an Associate Director at both the OSU the UNC Comprehensive Cancer Centers and the Division Chief of Hematology and Oncology at UNC and Acting Division Director of Medical Oncology at OSU. Prior to that, he was a consultant at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Associate Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Geisinger Clinic in Danville, PA.

A retirement celebration will be held in his honor on January 10 at Touchdown Terrace in Milan Puskar Stadium from 2-5 p.m.

For details or to RSVP for the event please contact Deanna Dalton at 304-293-0781 or ddalton@hsc.wvu.edu