City of Satellite Beach
50th Birthday Celebration
Eric H. Rubin, M.D.
Physician and Scientist
Dr. Eric H. Rubin was born in Seattle, Washington in 1959, but at a young age moved with his family to Satellite Beach.
He attended Patrick Elementary School, DeLaura Junior High School, and graduated from Satellite High School in 1977.
He was a National Merit Scholarship finalist and received a full academic scholarship to Tulane University. His interest in scientific research began while he lived in Satellite Beach as a result of exposure to his father's work at the Kennedy Space Center, as well as the influence of science teachers at schools in Satellite Beach.
While at Tulane, he majored in mathematics and biology. He graduated in 1981 as the valedictorian of his class and received both the Glendy Burke Medal in Mathematics and the Fred R. Cagle Prize in Biology.
During college he developed an interest in medical research. He attended medical school at the University of South Florida, where he first began studying new methods to treat cancer in the laboratory of Dr. Joseph Cory.
His interest in clinical research led him to pursue a residency in internal medicine at the Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was selected as a chief medical resident.
He pursued fellowship training in oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School.
During this time he became interested in topoisomerases, which are enzymes that control DNA.
He was promoted to Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School in 1995, and shortly thereafter was recruited to the newly created Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
He is currently the Associate Director of Clinical Sciences and the Director of Investigational Therapeutics at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, as well as Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Dr. Rubin’s research focuses on finding new treatments for cancer.
He holds a patent for TOPORS, which he discovered as a new gene that is involved in the development of cancer.
He has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers in both basic and clinical cancer research journals, including prominent journals such as The Journal of Biological Chemistry and The Journal of Clinical Oncology.
In addition, he has published several editorials, invited review papers, and chapters, including the chapter on topoisomerase-targeting drugs in the leading oncology textbook, Cancer Medicine.
He is a member of several advisory boards and editorial boards, and is a Deputy Editor for the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
Dr. Rubin has also taught and trained undergraduates, medical students, fellows, and junior faculty. Many of his trainees have pursued careers in cancer research.
His first graduate student, Paul Haluska, is now an Assistant Professor at the Mayo Clinic.
Under his leadership, the Phase I Clinical Trials group at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey has become a premier site for investigation of new treatments for patients with cancer.
Dr. Rubin lives in Belle Mead, New Jersey, with his wife Kimberly (also a Satellite Beach native), and two children, Sara and Jacob.