Mitchell Anscher joins VCU as chair of radiation oncology department

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
Division of University Relations

RICHMOND, Va. – Mitchell S. Anscher, M.D., today joined the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine as professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology.

Anscher, a 1981 graduate of the VCU School of Medicine, is a prostate cancer expert who most recently was professor, vice chairman and clinical director for the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Duke University Medical Center.

Anscher is nationally recognized for his research and clinical programs. He is a fellow of the American College of Radiology and has been named as one of America's Top Doctors for the past five years. In 2001 he received the Outstanding Medical Alumnus Award from the Medical College of Virginia Alumni Association.

Anscher's research interests include the molecular biology of normal tissue injury after cancer therapy and studying ways to reduce the risk of the side effects of cancer therapy. His clinical expertise is focused on prostate cancer. 

As chair, Anscher heads a department of more than 30 radiation oncologists, medical physicists and scientists who work hand-in-hand with VCU Massey Cancer Center interdisciplinary teams to provide customized treatment plans for patients and who conduct major research studies and clinical trials.

Anscher received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 1977 and a medical degree from the VCU School of Medicine in 1981. He continued post graduate training at St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury, Conn., and was chief resident in radiation oncology at Duke University Medical Center. 

Anscher joined the faculty at Duke in 1987. He has authored 119 papers in peer review journals, written 13 book chapters and has received numerous awards and honors.

Anscher's appointment as chair followed a national search to replace Dr. Rupert K.A. Schmidt-Ullrich, who died in December 2004. 

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