Dr. Leonard Wexler
After graduating from Boston University, Dr. Wexler completed his training in General Pediatrics at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, in the Bronx, NY and then did a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at The National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. During his fellowship, he conducted the first clinical trial of adoptive immunotherapy using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and interleukin-2 to treat children with recurrent neuroblastoma.
Dr. Wexler then joined the faculty of The Pediatric Branch at The National Cancer Institute where he was involved in clinical trials evaluating the benefit of adding ifosfamide and etoposide to the front-line therapy of patients with newly diagnosed Ewing's sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and non-rhabdo soft-tissue sarcomas; the role of dexrazoxane as a cardioprotecant in sarcoma patients receiving doxorubicin-based chemotherapy; the role of GM-CSF in ameliorating chemotherapy-associated myelosuppression; and, the role of consolidation with sequential cycles of autologous stem cell supported high-dose chemotherapy in patients with high-risk sarcomas.
Dr. Wexler was the co-chair of the Children's Oncology Group pilot study, P9754, evaluating the role of post-operative intensification of therapy for patients with osteogenic sarcoma. He is currently an Associate Attending Physician in the Department of Pediatrics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where he heads the Department's program in soft tissue sarcoma research and participates in the care of more than 150 patients per year with bone and soft tissue sarcomas and other solid tumors.
Dr. Wexler is the Principal Investigator of MSKCC IRB 03-099, a pilot institutional clinical trial for patients with newly diagnosed intermediate and high-risk rhabdomyosarcoma. In addition, through the very generous support of The Miles Alpern Levin Initiative for Rhabdomyosarcoma Research, he is collaborating with Dr. Neal Rosen and other MSKCC physicians to try to develop biologically targeted novel therapies for children with recurrent rhabdomyosarcoma. Dr. Wexler is the author or co-author of over 40 articles on the care of patients with pediatric sarcomas.
Copyright © 2012 Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative.