Dukagjin M. Blakaj M.D., Ph.D. an Associate Professor and H&N Division Director in the Radiation Oncology department at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. He leads a busy clinical practice in H&N, skull base, and CNS malignancies. He is also the H&N-Intraoperative and CNS/Pediatric fellowship director within the radiation oncology department.
Dr. Blakaj earned his bachelor’s and masters in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry and Chemistry from Wesleyan University (1999 and 2000); Biochemistry M.S (2004), Biochemistry Ph.D. (2008), and M.D. (2008) from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is on national committees for H&N cancer clinical trials including NCI, ECOG, and NRG. His Ph.D. thesis centered on the molecular, biochemical, biophysical, immune, and cellular research exploring protein-ligand interactions based on the papillomavirus transcription factor, E2. At the James Cancer Center, his research interests continue to be clinical and translational in nature with his goal being to tailor cancer treatments to patients based on their molecular profiles of treatment resistance and conduct research that will ultimately lead to novel clinical trials.
Dr. Blakaj has been published in over forty research articles and has received over a million dollars in funding for his research since joining OSU. He has been working at OSU for close to eight years and has had over three years of leadership training including certificates from the Faculty Leadership Institute at OSU and is a Certified Innovative Leadership Facilitator received from the Innovative Leadership Institute.