Ernest Feleppa, Ph.D.

Industrial-Academic Partnership to Develop Advanced Ultrasonic Imaging Methods to Identify Cancerous Tissue During Focal Ultrasonic Treatment of Prostate Cancer

The National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a $2.2 million grant to an international team of researchers led by Riverside Research Institute to develop advanced ultrasound methods to reliably image prostate cancer and to use these imaging methods in an integrated ultrasonic instrument to deliver high-intensity ultrasound to cancerous regions while sparing non-cancerous tissue and reducing undesirable side effects. These improvements are expected to make “focal” treatment of prostate cancer clinically feasible.

The project will be undertaken collaboratively by an international consortium consisting of scientists at Riverside Research Institute in New York, NY, engineers at Focus Surgery in Indianapolis, IN, and clinicians at the University College London Hospital in London, UK, and the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA.

Dr. Ernest Feleppa is the principal investigator at Riverside Research Institute. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. In 2008, Dr. Feleppa was honored by receiving the Joseph H. Holmes Pioneer Award in Basic Science from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. He is an internationally recognized leader in developing advanced ultrasound technology — particularly for imaging prostate cancer. Mr. Naren Sanghvi is the co-principal investigator of the project and lead scientific investigator at Focus Surgery. The clinical collaborators are Dr. Mark Emberton, the lead clinical investigator, and Dr. Hashim Ahmed, the co-clinical investigator at the University College London Hospital, and Dr. Christopher Porter, the lead clinical investigator at Virginia Mason Medical Center. Mr. Sanghvi is known throughout the world as a leader in ultrasonic therapy, particularly for treating prostate disease, and he is the founder of Focus Surgery. Drs. Emberton, Ahmed, and Porter are preeminent urological surgeons who are at the forefront of clinical research and practice in detection and treatment of prostate cancer.

Industrial-Academic Partnership to Help Urologists Zero in on Cancerous Prostate Tissue During Ultrasound-Guided Biopsies and Focal Treatments

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $3.3 million grant to researchers led by Riverside Research Institute to increase the reliability of imaging prostate cancer by combining advanced ultrasound and magnetic-resonance methods. These improvements are expected to lead to more effective detection and treatment of prostate cancer.

The project, which involves scientists at Riverside Research Institute and Rutgers University, clinicians from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and engineers at GE Global Research, will perform research to help urologists zero in on suspicious tissue in the prostate gland when they perform needle biopsies or undertake focal treatment for prostate cancer. Dr. Ernest Feleppa is the principal investigator at Riverside Research Institute in New York, NY. Dr. Feleppa is a Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. In 2008, he was honored by receiving the Joseph H. Holmes Pioneer Award in Basic Science from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. He is an internationally recognized leader in developing advanced ultrasound technology — particularly for imaging prostate cancer. Dr. Feleppa’s collaborators in the newly funded project are Prof. Anant Madabhushi, the lead scientific investigator of the project at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, Dr. Maryellen Sun, the lead clinical investigator at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA, and Dr. Kai Thomenius, the lead scientific investigator at GE Global Research in Niskayuna, NY. Additional key team members are Dr. Clare Tempany of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, Dr. Neil Rofsky of the University of Texas in Dallas, TX, and Dr. Nicolas Bloch of the Boston Medical Center in Boston, MA; all serve as consultants on the project.