Notable Alums

Patrick

Specialty: Pediatrics

Graduation Year: 2003

Patrick Grohar

Patrick Grohar, M.D. ’03, Ph.D., is an associate professor and researcher at the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich. His research focuses on developing new therapies for pediatric sarcomas.

After receiving his medical degree and a doctorate in chemistry from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, Dr. Grohar completed a residency and fellowship training in pediatric hematology oncology at Johns Hopkins. He continued his fellowship training at the National Cancer Institute, also serving as a junior faculty member. He also has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Villanova University.

Dr. Grohar joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University as an assistant professor of Pediatrics. He left to join the Van Andel Institute, an independent biomedical research and science education organization, as an associate professor at its Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, Program in Skeletal Disease and Tumor Microenvironment in July 2015.

Dr. Grohar also maintains a clinical presence on the sarcoma team in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, and an academic appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at Michigan State University. He is a member of the Children’s Oncology Group Bone Tumor Steering Committee. The Children’s Oncology Group is a national network of pediatric hospitals that unite to develop new approaches for children with cancer. In addition, he is vice chair of the COG Ewing Sarcoma Biology Committee, a group that meets regularly to discuss the latest science in the field of Ewing sarcoma research.

His research has been recognized internationally, and he has developed promising new therapies for Ewing sarcoma. He has identified one compound that has entered the clinic and at least one other that he has characterized for Ewing sarcoma that is in the late stages of clinical translation. He recently received R01 funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop new therapies for Ewing sarcoma