Dr. Palefsky is Professor of Medicine at UCSF School of Medicine. Dr. Palefsky completed his undergraduate medical training and training in Internal Medicine at McGill University and completed his fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Stanford University. He is an internationally recognized expert on the molecular biology, treatment, pathogenesis and natural history of anogenital human papillomavirus infections, particularly in the setting of HIV infection. He is the Director of the world's first clinic devoted to prevention of anal cancer, the Anal Neoplasia Clinic at the UCSF Cancer Center. He has pioneered diagnostic and treatment methods for anal intraepithelial neoplasia and has been an advocate for anal screening in high-risk populations to prevent anal cancer. He is the head of the HPV Working Group of the AIDS Malignancy Consortium. He heads the Special Populations Committee of the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology and is co-director of the Cancer and Immunology Program of the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is the author of over 190 publications.

Dr. Palefsky’s ongoing projects focus on DNA tumor virus infection of the epithelium, specifically human papillomavirus (HPV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). His work on HPV focuses on understanding the molecular pathogenesis of HPV-related neoplasia, the natural history of HPV infection in HIV-positive men and women; characterization of a new clinical entity, anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN) and its relationship to anal cancer; and development of novel approaches to prevent and treat anogenital HPV infection. His group continues to publish much of the world’s literature on the prevalence and incidence of anal HPV infection and AIN in a variety of at-risk groups of men and women.

Over 50% of HIV-positive MSM develop high-grade AIN, the anal cancer precursor. Treatment of AIN could reduce the incidence of anal cancer, but is very challenging for a number of reasons. In the last few years, much of his group’s clinical research activities have focused on development of better approaches to treating AIN to prevent anal cancer. His laboratory is also continuing to develop a gene therapy approach that uses a plasmid encoding the HSV-1 thymidine kinase (TK) gene under the control of HPV E2-response elements to drive HPV-specific expression of TK.

Dr. Palefsky’s program on EBV, like the HPV program described above, is focused on epithelial infection. His studies focus on the EBV BMRF-2 protein which his group has shown to play an important role in entry into epithelial cells. His group is also continuing its work on dissemination of EBV to and among epithelial cells and has recently begun to focus more on the role of HIV co-infection in this process. His group has also expanded its work on molecular interactions between HPV and HIV using novel epithelial models and newer methods to study HPV biology, including the use of HPV pseudovirions.

NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR) Grand Rounds is a weekly lecture series addressing current research in clinical and molecular oncology. Speakers are leading national and international researchers and clinicians proposed by members of the CCR Grand Rounds Planning Committee and others within the CCR community and approved by the CCR Office of the Director. Lectures occur every Tuesday from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. in Lipsett Amphitheater in the Clinical Center building on the NIH campus September through July with exceptions around holidays and major cancer meetings. The lecture schedule is posted on various calendars of events, including at the following link:
http://www.bethesdatrials.cancer.gov/health-care-professionals/grand-rounds.aspx