Nathan Bahary, MD, PhD

Dr. Nathan Bahary is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh. He also holds a secondary appointment as an Associate Professor in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. In addition, he is the Rotation Site Director for the Complex General Surgery Oncology Fellowship Program. After completing his undergraduate work in Chemistry at Cornell University, Dr. Bahary went on to earn his MD at the Cornell University School of Medicine in 1989 and his PhD in Genetics at Rockefeller University in 1992. For postgraduate study, he was a clinical fellow at the Harvard Medical School and served as an intern and resident in internal medicine at the Beth Israel Hospital. He also spent additional time as a postdoc at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, both in Boston. Prior to arriving at Pitt, Dr. Bahary held a position as an instructor in medicine at the Harvard Medical School. The principal theme of Dr. Bahary’s research interests is to combine the power and insight of vertebrate development to elucidate basic molecular processes and the treatment of cancer. One of the methods used to characterize the discrete steps involved in normal vertebrate development and initiation and progression of tumors, is the generation of mutants and alteration of specific gene expression. In this regard, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) is an especially robust vertebrate system for isolating and defining the novel factors affecting these processes. The developing embryos are transparent, facilitating visualization, and have functioning organ systems by 24 hours post fertilization. Transgenic zebrafish, made by fusing the promoter elements of genes with a fluorescent marker (GFP), are being used to help elucidate the key steps in cancer development. Dr. Bahary’s work will help provide the basis for designing rational, molecularly based disease directed therapies. Dr. Bahary is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), the Society for Clinical and Translational Science (SCTS), the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NASBP), and the Pancreatic Cancer Research Team (PCRT). He is also a co-author of the book chapter, “Principles of Chemotherapy,” in The Pittsburgh Surgical Oncology Manual (2010). He also serves as an ad hoc reviewer for these and other publications: Gastroenterology, Clinical Colorectal Cancer, Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs, BMC Genomics, Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, Gene, Genome Biology, and Genomics. View a list of Dr. Bahary’s publications here.