James I. Geller, MD
Title
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Appointment
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Email
james.geller@cchmc.org
Phone
513-636-4266
Fax
513-636-3549
Bio
James I. Geller, MD completed his undergraduate training at Dartmouth College, graduate medical training at the Sackler School of Medicine, residency training in pediatrics at New York Medical College and pediatric hematology / oncology training at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. His current appointment is with the University of Cincinnati and Children's Hospital Medical Center in the capacity of Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics.
Dr. Geller's clinical and academic interests pertain to children and families affected by solid tumors, including brain tumors. Dr. Geller's expertise is recognized both nationally and internationally in the fields of retinoblastoma, renal tumors, liver tumors and brain tumors, as witnessed by his appointments to the Children's Oncology Group (COG) Rare/Retinoblastoma Committee as both a Steering/Voting Member and as liaison to the COG Young Investigator Committee; the COG Renal Tumor Committee (RTC) as Steering/Voting Member, RTC Sub-Committee Chair of Developmental Therapeutics, and RTC liaison to both the COG Developmental Therapeutics Committee and the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program Guidance Committee; and to the Central Nervous System (Brain Tumor) Committee as a voting member. Dr. Geller has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international meetings and symposia and spearheads both local and national clinical research initiatives in these areas, with an emphasis on finding new treatment options.
Programmatic Leadership:
Renal Tumors. Dr. Geller leads the CCHMC oncology renal tumor team and his leadership as Chair of the Children's Oncology Group Renal Tumor Committee Developmental Therapeutics Working Group has led to a widening of the pipeline for new drug development for pediatric renal tumors. He currently serves as protocol sub-Chair of the national Renal Cell Carcinoma study (AREN0321) and is leading a team of national investigators in developing Phase I, II and subsequent clinical trials for children with high-risk renal tumors including anaplastic Wilms tumor, relapsed Wilms tumor, rhabdoid tumor of the kidney, and renal cell carcinoma.
Liver Tumors. Dr. Geller leads the CCHMC oncology liver tumor team and has organized and leads a multidisciplinary liver tumor research group, in partnership with the pediatric liver transplant team, hepatology, pathology, genetics and radiology, to provide a conduit for improved biological and clinical research for hepatoblastoma and heptocellular carcinoma. Dr. Geller serves on the Children's Oncology Group Rare Tumor Committee including liver tumors.
Retinoblastoma. Dr. Geller co-leads, with Dr. James Augsburger (Ophthalmology), a multidisciplinary team at CCHMC caring for children and families affected by retinoblastoma. In collaboration with other clinical disciplines, Dr. Geller has advanced therapeutic options for children with retinoblastoma here at CCHMC to include peri-ocular (sub-conjunctival) chemotherapy, high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue (autologous stem cell rescue), and direct catheter assisted delivery of intra-ophthalmic artery chemotherapy. He has authored the first multi-disciplinary institutional clinical trial for patients with retinoblastoma with relapsed or refractory intra-ocular disease which expands CCHMC investigation in using novel therapeutic approaches, as well as incorporates correlative studies exploring pathology, advanced radiographic (functional MRI to assess visual cortical function) and age-specific visual acuity testing for children treated for retinoblastoma. Under his leadership, international collaboration is underway with the goal of advancing our understanding and treatment of all children and families affected by retinoblastoma. Dr. Geller serves on the national COG Retinoblastoma Committee as a Steering/Voting Member.
Additional Focus Areas:
Central Nervous System Tumors. Dr. Geller maintains an active role in the care of children and families affected by brain tumors and continues to serve on the COG Central Nervous System Committee. He will be vice-Chair of the next national study for children with High Grade Gliomas (ACNS0822).
Developmental Therapeutics. With a special interest in the advancement of novel therapies for children with solid tumors and brain tumors, Dr. Geller is currently the Principal Investigator for several industry sponsored Phase I and Phase II investigations for pediatric cancer patients, as well as author and Chair of several investigator-initiated clinical research trials at both the local and national level.
Most recently, Dr. Geller spearheaded the initiative to open the Pediatric Hereditary Cancer Predisposition Clinic (PHCPC) as a joint collaboration between the Human Genetics division and the Oncology Program. The PHCPC officially opened in January 2009 and is only one of a few such clinics in the United States.
Dr. Geller maintains a full oncology clinic load, and regularly mentors fellows, residents and staff through special projects, publications, lectures, and other opportunities as they arise. Dr. Geller's service also extends into the community where he has interacted with local media on behalf of CCHMC, provided medical expertise and leadership on several local pediatric cancer foundation boards, and continues to speak at a variety of fundraising activities to benefit cancer research.
Credentials
Certification: Pediatrics, 2000; Pediatric Hematology / Oncology, 2005
Fellowship: St Jude Children's Research Hospital, 2004
Residency: New York Medical College, 2000
MD: Sackler School of Medicine, 1997
Awards and Honors
Family Advisory Council Award of Excellence (CCHMC), 2007.
National Research Service Award (NIH Training Grant, T32-CA70089), 7/02-7/04
Research
Dr. Geller has completed three years of intensive laboratory investigation focused on elucidating ways to translate the use of biological response modifiers, active in modulating cell death (apoptosis) signaling pathways, in combination with conventional chemotherapeutics.
Co-Principal Investigator: Molecular Correlates of FUra, IFN-g), and Fas Signaling Pathways with Chemotherapeutic Response in Colorectal Carcinoma: a supplemental protocol for the Phase I / II study of Interferon-gamma (IFN-g) added to Bolus + Infusional 5-Fluorouracil (FUra) and Leucovorin (LV) + / - Bevacizumab in Metastatic Colorectal Carcinoma (GFL / GFLA Trial).
Publications, Most Recent
Connect to James Geller's publications on PubMed
Geller JI and Dome JS. Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection for Pediatric Renal Cell Carcinoma. Letter to the Editor. Pediatr Blood Cancer, March 52(3):430, 2009.
Geller JI, Wall D, Perentesis J, Blaney S, Bernstein M. Phase I Trial of Dose Escalation of Paclitaxel with Standard Dose Ifosfamide in Children with Refractory Solid Tumors: A Pediatric Oncology Group Study (POG#9376). Pediatr Blood Cancer. March 52(3):346-50, 2009.
Geller JI. Genetic stratification of Wilm's tumor: is WT1 gene analysis ready for prime time? Cancer, 113:893-6, 2008.
Geller JI, Argani P, Adeniran A, Hampton E, De Marzo A, Hicks J, Collins M. Pediatric (Translocation) Renal Cell Cancer: Lack of Negative Impact due to Lymph Node Spread. Cancer, 112:1607-16, 2008.
Presentations, Most Recent
International Presentations
Invited Speaker, 6th International Conference on Biology of Childhood Renal Tumors: Lecture: Novel Agents for Wilms Tumor. Chamonix, France, March 2008.
Invited Speaker, 39th Congress International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP): Symposium: Where to go next with Wilms Tumor? New Agents for Wilms Tumor, Mumbai, India, November 2, 2007.
Professional Organization Memberships
- American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
- American Society of Clinical Oncology
- American Society of Hematology
- American Association for Cancer Research
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- Children's Oncology Group
Abstracts
Wagner A, Goldberg J, Choy E, Rosen L, Pappo A, DuBois S, Geller J, Senzer N, Ferrari D, Chai F, Demetri G. Preliminary Results from a Phase II Study of the Selective c-Met Inhibitor ARQ197 in Patients with Microphthalmia Transcription Factor Associated Tumors. Presented at the 14th Annual Meeting of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society, London, UK, 2008.
Schwartzberg L, Houghton J, Phillips D, Stewart C, Onciu M, Geller J, Walker MS. Phase II, biomarker and genomic correlative study of GFL: Interferon (INF-g), bolus/infusional 5-FU and leucovorin (LV) for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). AACR 2008 Abstract/Poster.
Special Interests
Developmental therapeutics; Renal/Liver/Retinoblastoma/Neuro-Oncology
Open Studies
Co-Investigator: Therapeutic and Biological Study of High-Risk 'Rare' Renal Tumors. Principal Investigator for the characterization and biological study of Renal Cell Carcinoma- a COG study-AREN0321 (PI- Jeff Dome, MD).
Site Principal Investigator: A Phase I Trial of Monoclonal Antibody HGS-ETR2 (Lexatumumab) In Patients With Refractory Pediatric Solid Tumors. (Collaborative study including the NCI POB, MSKCC and CCHMC, sponsored by NCI POB and Human Genome Sciences.
Site Principal Investigator: A Phase II Study of ARQ197 in Patients with Microphthalmia Transcription Factor Associated Tumors, sponsored by Argule.
Editorial Positions
Ad hoc journal referee for the following journals:
Related Areas
This person works in these other areas at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical
Center:
