Androgens, Hormonal Therapy, and Response in Prostate Cancer

Nima Sharifi, M.D is the Scientific Director of the Desai Sethi Urology Institute and member of the Sylvester Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. His laboratory and translational research is focused on the discovery and clinical implications of new mechanisms of hormone therapy resistance.
Dr. Sharifi’s research group discovered that prostate cancer becomes resistant to androgen deprivation therapies using a hyperactivated form of the enzyme 3βHSD1 that allows tumors to make their own testosterone – effectively enabling cancers to feed themselves. He also showed that men who inherit this form of 3βHSD1 have tumors that progress on treatment more quickly and that this shortens survival. These basic discoveries have been translated with drug development all the way into clinical trials. His research program is very actively engaged in the discovery of other fundamental mechanisms of metabolism in therapeutic resistance and human physiology.
Dr. Sharifi is the recipient of the Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award of the Clinical Research Forum, AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research, AACR Waun Ki Hong Award for Outstanding Achievement in Translational and Clinical Cancer Research, the Richard Weitzman Award of the Endocrine Society, and is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an elected member of the Association of American Physicians.