Cancer expert to chair University of Louisville ob/gyn department

Sharmila Makhija, MD, MBA, has been appointed chairman of the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and women’s health at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Makhija, a nationally recognized expert in gynecologic cancer, comes to Louisville from Emory University in Atlanta, where she is chief and associate professor of the division of gynecologic oncology, Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar, and holder of the Leach Endowed Chair in obstetrics and gynecology.

She has published and lectured extensively on gene therapy for cancer and monoclonal antibody therapy for ovarian cancer. At Emory she oversaw implementation of the National Cancer Institute-sponsored Gynecologic Oncology Group cooperative trials and investigator-initiated trials.

Makhija has served as a reviewer for the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Oncology Study Section and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Oncology Practice (currently), the Women’s Oncology Review Journal, and the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. Since 2008 she has been listed among “Top Doctors in America.”