Brooklyn College is proud to announce that Professor Alexander Greer of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has been appointed the new director of the Brooklyn College Cancer Center. Greer succeeds founding director Professor Maria Contel and has been affiliated with the center since its inception. As the second director of the center, Greer will guide its next chapter, expanding opportunities for student researchers, strengthening faculty collaborations, and fostering innovation. With experience in patenting scientific discoveries, he will help position the center at the forefront of small business development and technology transfer—an especially critical goal during today’s competitive scientific funding landscape. “Professor Greer’s vision, leadership, and distinguished record of scientific achievement will position the Brooklyn College Cancer Center to thrive as a hub of innovation and a vital training ground for the next generation of cancer researchers,” President Michelle J. Anderson said. “I would like to thank outgoing founding Director Maria Contel and founding Vice Director Jennifer Basil for their incredible vision and hard work as leaders and look forward to their continuing contributions as we deepen our engagement with our students, faculty, and the community we serve.” The engine driving the center’s success is the people and partnerships that serve and empower underserved communities in and around Brooklyn, and Greer looks forward to helping to serve them with Ana Bartolomé, the Operations Manager/Community Outreach Coordinator of the Brooklyn College Cancer Center. Greer’s research expertise lies in photochemistry, photobiology, and cancer cell eradication methods, including groundbreaking work on glioma and ovarian cancer cells. Through collaborations, he also enjoys working the area of photomedicine, including animal models of periodontitis and burn wounds. Over the course of his career, he has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, earned nearly $6 million in external funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and mentored a number of students entering the sciences. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Wyoming and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA before joining Brooklyn College in 1999. The Brooklyn College Cancer Center was launched in 2020 as the first education-based center of its kind in Brooklyn focused on research and community partnerships with a mission of enhancing the lives of patients affected by cancer with a special focus on underserved Brooklyn residents, while concentrating on three main areas: research, education, and community service.
