Robert Edwards, MD

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Robert Edwards, MD

Milton Lawrence McCall Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, Co-Director, Gynecologic Oncology Research, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, Co-Leader, Breast and Ovarian Cancer Program, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Co-Director, Women's Cancer Research Center, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Director, Transformational Medicine, UPMC, Site Co-Director, RPCI/UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Ovarian Cancer SPORE

Contact

UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital
300 Halket Street
Suite 2235
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Email: edwarp@upmc.edu

Administrative Contact
Ashley Carter
Email: cartera7@upmc.edu

Area of Research

Women's Cancers

Education

MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Internship, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco

Residency, Department of OB-GYN and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh/Magee-Womens Hospital

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mucosal Immunology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Clinical Fellowship, Gynecologic Oncology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

My research focuses on better understanding of the role of host immunity in solid tumor development and disease regression including windows of opportunity to employ vaccines and immunotherapy more effectively.
Robert Edwards, MD

Research in Brief

Dr Edwards’ research interests include cervical and ovarian malignancies. He serves as principle investigator of the Gynecologic Oncology Group for the University of Pittsburgh and for a number of pharmaceutical-sponsored studies. He also serves on the Ovarian Cancer Committee, which experiments with novel therapeutic approaches to gynecologic malignancies and produces translational research.Three specific targets of Dr Edwards’ research include:

Vaccine therapies for cervical and ovarian cancer
Combining biologic and immunologic therapies with traditional therapies in the treatment of women’s cancer
Intraperitoneal therapy

Current Projects

Phase II study of RAD001 and bevacizumab in recurrent ovarian, peritoneal, and fallopian tube cancer. An Investigator-initiated, single institutional trial at UPMC

A randomized, open-label, multicenter, Phase II trial evaluating the safety and activity of DNIB0600A. Compared to Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin administered intravenously to patients with Platinum resistant ovarian cancer

Phase 1-2 Neoadjuvant Dose Finding, Safety, and Immunologic Efficacy Trial of Intensive Loco-regional Chemo-immunotherapy for Recurrent Ovarian, and Tumor-Specific Intra-nodal Autologous Alpha-DC1 Vaccines

Selected Publications

Ragin C, Edwards R, Heron D, Kuo J, Wentzel E, Gollin S, & Taioli E. Prevalence of
cancer-associated viral infections in healthy Afro-Caribbean populations: A review of the literature. Cancer Investigational, 2008.
Lenzi R, Edwards R, June C, Seiden M, Garcia M, Rosenblum M, & Freedman R. Phase II study of intraperitoneal recombinant Interleukin-12 (rhIL-12) in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (residual disease <1cm) associated with ovarian cancer or primary peritoneal carcinoma. Journal of Translational Medicine, 2007.
Vlad AM, Kettel JD, Edwards RP, & Finn OJ. Mucin 1 (MUC1) glycoprotein modulates the ability of activated T cells to adhere to endothelia through increased binding to ICAM-1 and decreased adhesion to E-Selectin. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 2009.
Finn OJ & Edwards RP. Human papillomavirus vaccine for cane prevention. New
England Journal of Medicine, 2009.
Naumann RW, Edwards RP, & Sukumvanich P. Practice patterns of intraperitoneal chemotherapy in women with ovarian cancer. Gynecology Oncology, May 2009.
Vlad AM, Budiu RA, Lenzner DE, Wang Y, Thaller JA, Colonello K, Crowley-
Nowick PA, Kelley JL, Price FV, Edwards RP. A phase II trial of intraperitoneal interleukin-2 in patients with platinum-resistant or platinum-refractory ovarian cancer. Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy, 2010.
Budiu RA, Mantia-Smaldone G. Elishaev E, Chu T, Thalle J McCabe K, Lenzner
D, Edwards RP, Vlad AM. Soluble MUC1 and serum MUC1-specific antibodies are potential prognostic biomarkers for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy, 2011.
Koebel M, Kalloger S, Lee S, Duggan MA, Kelemen LE, Prentice L, Kalli KR,
Fridley FL, Visscher DW, Keeney GA, Vierkant RA, Cunningham JM, Chow C, Ness RB, Moysich KB, Edwards RP, Modugno F, Bunker CH, Wozniak EL, Benjamin E, Gayther SA, Gentry-Maharaj A, Menon U, Gilks B, Huntsman DG, Ramus SJ, Goode EL. Biomarker-based ovarian carcinoma typing: a histological investigation in the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis consortium. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers, 2013.
Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, Edwards RP; Australian Cancer Study;
Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group. Genome-wide significant risk associations for mucinous ovarian carcinoma. National Genetics, 2015.
Taylor SE, Li R, Petschauer JS, Donovan H, O’Neal S, Keeler AW, Zamboni WC,
Edwards RP, Zorn KK. Phase I study of intravenous (IV) docetaxel and intraperitoneal (IP) oxaliplatin in recurrent ovarian and fallopian tube cancer.
Gynecology Oncology, 2015.