Ruth Perets, MD, PhD

Medical Oncologist in the Division of Oncology and the head of Women’s Cancers Lab in the Clinical Research Institute at Rambam Healthcare Campus

Current Grant: Beverley Librach Abshez Initiative for Ovarian and Female Reproductive System Cancers

Who is Dr. Ruth Perets?

When she’s not in the lab or with patients, she’s with her husband and three children. Her youngest son is in middle school, and her two older children are currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces. “I’m proud of the people they’ve become. They help others. They know right from wrong. They do things for the greater good.”

Research Overview

Dr. Perets’ research is focused on both treatment and prevention of ovarian cancer. She has successfully genetically engineered ovarian cancer in mice, which forms in a similar way to humans. She’s studying a common and aggressive type of ovarian cancer called high grade serous ovarian carcinoma, which has been shown to originate in the fallopian tube and not the ovary.

With her current ICRF-funded grant Dr. Perets is developing new drugs for ovarian cancer treatment, based on blocking the activity of a protein that comes from the fallopian tube and plays a major role in ovarian cancer progression called PAX8. In her previous grants Dr. Perets showed that PAX8 is an essential protein in ovarian cancer, and if it’s removed from a tumor the tumor cells die. In another ICRF funded grant Dr. Perets and her team developed a new mouse model for a rare type of ovarian cancer called carcinosarcoma, and suggested new ways to prevent this disease.

What’s Trending

Dr. Perets’ lab also runs early phase clinical trials – treating patients with new drugs that are developed around the world, often being the first physician in the world to use a new drug. When asking Dr. Perets about current trends in ovarian cancer drug development, Dr. Perets explains, that targeted chemotherapy, that is designed to attack only cancer cells, is what we’re going to see more of. Through her work treating cancer patients, she sees firsthand what’s most effective. Most new drugs being developed are those types, and they work well. “That’s the big thing we’ll see in cancer treatment, it’s started already, but we’ll see much more of that in the coming years.”

Reflections

We asked Dr. Perets about the most rewarding part of her work. “It’s rewarding when a student in my lab discovers something new about ovarian cancer. Something that’s interesting and important and no one else in the world knows yet. That’s an amazing feeling, that motivates me and keeps me happy for a long time.”

Why Israel

Practically speaking, according to Dr. Perets, the cost of research in general in Israel is less than that of the United States, and Israelis need to be creative to maximize limited resources. This also means that funding goes much further, and every dollar/shekel of support is deeply appreciated. Dr. Perets lives in Northern Israel where the situation is currently uncertain. “Every day I think – what will we do if war starts today. I’m in Northern Israel, and every night I go to sleep and wonder whether I’ll wake up and go to work or wake up in the middle of the night to go to our shelter. You can’t plan anything, yet we must keep moving forward, keep treating our patients, and keep doing meaningful research.”