Conference Speaker

Michele Carbone, M.D., Ph.D., is the William and Ellen Melohn Chair in Cancer Biology and Human Cancer Genetics, Professor of Pathology, Director Thoracic Oncology at University of Hawaii Cancer Center, an NCI-designated cancer center that Carbone built and directed for 6 years, in Honolulu.  He is board certified in Anatomical Pathology, both in Italy and in the US, and he has a PhD in human pathology. His current research funding includes grants from the NIH, NCI, US Department of Defense, V-Foundation, and donations from the UH Foundation.  Carbone’s research is a combination of the field-work he conducted over 12 years in Cappadocia and in remote areas of the world, with sophisticated molecular genetics work and vital clinical-diagnostic work in his laboratory. Going against current dogma, he hypothesized and then proved that that susceptibility to mesothelioma was transmitted in a Mendelian fashion. Studying US families affected by multiple cases of mesothelioma Carbone identified a dominant germline mutation in BAP1 causative of a novel cancer syndrome, also demonstrating that somatic biallelic BAP1 mutations are the most common genetic alteration in mesothelioma. Carbone elucidated key mechanisms of BAP1-mediated tumor suppressor activity and he demonstrated Gene-Environment interaction with asbestos/erionite. He enrolled 47 BAP1-mutant families, followed them for 20+ years implementing early detection strategies. He discovered unique histological, immunohistochemical and biological characteristic of genetically-related mesotheliomas that set them a-part from sporadic mesotheliomas. His findings led to significantly improved survival and curative resection of early-stage cancers saving many lives. BAP1 genetic testing and BAP1 immunohistochemistry for mesothelioma diagnosis are now routine in medicine. Moreover, in rural North Dakota and in Cappadocia, Carbone effected government policy changes, removing erionite, re-building two new villages and relocating susceptible populations.