Professor Alona Zer

Professor Zer graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Tel Aviv University. She did her internship in the radiotherapy department of the Davidoff Cancer Center (Petah Tikva, Israel). For a long time she trained in treating sarcoma and lung cancer in the thoracic surgery department of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (Toronto, Canada). Dr. Zer holds an Israeli license as a radiation oncologist and is a participant in the Refua Shlema "Sarcoma" program, among others.

To successfully diagnose and treat sarcoma and malignant lung tumors one must be not only a competent specialist, as Alona Zer is, but also work in close cooperation with doctors of other specialties. Recently, to treat such patients more successfully, a multidisciplinary tumor board was established at the center, in which, besides Professor Zer, specialists with many years of experience diagnosing, imaging, operating on and treating such tumors take part. As practice shows, patients consulted by such a representative board have better surgical treatment results and a higher survival rate.

Alona Zer is actively engaged in research, including:

• Determining the prognostic and predictive value of KRAS mutation in lung cancer.
• Studying new possibilities in sarcoma treatment, in particular immunotherapy.

Topics proposed by the doctor within joint studies have repeatedly received grants from the Canadian Sarcoma Research Foundation and the Israel Cancer Association. Some methods resulting from this work are already actively used in clinical practice.

• Bone cancer (Ewing sarcoma, osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma);
• Soft tissue sarcoma (leiomyosarcoma, liposarcoma, angiosarcoma, desmoid tumors);
• Thoracic tumors – cancer and other malignant tumors of the lungs, mesothelioma, neuroendocrine tumors, etc.;
• Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST).

Sarcoma is an uncommon but very aggressive malignant tumor, often affecting people under 40. Lung cancer is a common, insidious disease that often makes itself known only at late stages. To cope with these serious diseases it is very important to make the correct diagnosis in time and draw up an effective treatment protocol. Thanks to Professor Zer's experience, rich practice and close cooperation with a team of high-class specialists, this goal becomes achievable.