Katherine Matthay
Katherine Matthay, MD, one of the world's leading researchers in new treatments for neuroblastoma, the most common extracranial solid cancer of infancy and early childhood, has been appointed to hold the Mildred V. Strouss Endowed Chair in Translational Research in Pediatric Oncology at UCSF.
Since 2005, Matthay has been chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics at UCSF. Her expertise in treating neuroblastoma attracts patients from throughout the nation and the world.
Neuroblastoma is a malignant tumor composed of neuroblasts, dividing cells that will develop into either neurons or ganglia. It originates in the autonomic nervous system or adrenal medulla, and occurs in one out of 100,000 infants and children. It is slightly more common in boys than girls.
Matthay and her colleagues collaborate with research laboratories at UCSF and other institutions to develop new genetic prognostic markers for neuroblastoma and new therapies. She and her team recently demonstrated in a national study that the outcome of neuroblastoma can be significantly improved through the use of an innovative treatment program that includes chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation and the vitamin A derivative 13-cis-retinoic acid.
Matthay has also established and directs the New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy consortium supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a consortium of pediatric cancer hospitals working to test new tumor-targeted therapies. She is a member and leader of the Pediatric Oncology Program of the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Matthay has been named one of the Bay Area's Best Doctors by San Francisco magazine and has received the American Cancer Society Scholar Award. She earned her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and served her pediatric residency at the University of Colorado. She served a pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship at UCSF Medical Center.
The endowed chair was made possible by a generous gift of $500,000 from the Mildred V. Strouss Charitable Trust. Strouss, a longtime resident of San Francisco, died in 1998 at the age of 103. The trust was established in her honor.
