Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, president and CEO of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, has been listed in the Becker’s Hospital Review’s Academic Medical Center CEOs to Know.
The 2025 list includes 95 CEOs nationwide who are setting the pace for the nation’s leading academic medical centers and academic health systems by guiding “institutions that serve as hubs for discovery and innovation, overseeing groundbreaking clinical trials, pioneering technologies and novel treatment models.” Becker’s describes the CEOs listed as leaders who focus beyond the hospital walls, expanding access to care and improving the overall health of the communities they serve through collaborations with government agencies, research partners and community organizations.
Dr. Pasche, a world-renowned cancer researcher, oncologist and administrator, believes cancer centers like Karmanos Cancer Institute should focus on providing treatment with the best possible outcome for any given patient. Dr. Pasche is not only the president and CEO of a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center but also the chair of the Department of Oncology at Wayne State University (WSU) School of Medicine.
Since arriving at Karmanos, Dr. Pasche has set the strategic vision for the growth and development of Michigan's largest cancer provider and researcher. This vision includes planning and evaluation, scientific direction, community outreach and engagement, coordinated multidisciplinary clinical cancer care delivery, organizational administration, and advancement and development activities. Dr. Pasche has worked with leadership to accomplish growth at the headquarters and across the Karmanos Cancer Network. This includes the recent completion of a $48 million, 50,000-square-foot expansion in Farmington Hills, a continued partnership with Michigan State University in Lansing to open a new state-of-the-art cancer center, and a radiation oncology clinic in Maumee, Ohio. Also, during his tenure, Karmanos opened medical oncology clinics in Roseville and Dearborn and a multispecialty clinic with McLaren Health Care in Oxford.
As chair of the WSU Department of Oncology, Dr. Pasche provides strategic vision, leadership and planning to advance the department’s cancer research and clinical care, including recruiting additional faculty. In alignment with continuing to offer cancer patients groundbreaking treatments and being a leading cancer research facility, Dr. Pasche has focused strategic efforts on recruiting the brightest minds in oncology care, research and clinical studies. To date, he has recruited 10 new physicians and 12 new researchers. Karmanos is planning a $200 million project in Midtown Detroit to construct a new health sciences research building with academic partner Wayne State University. The project will provide state-of-the-art medical education and research facilities that will attract top researchers and contribute to breakthrough treatments. At any given time, as the only hospital in Michigan focused solely on cancer, Karmanos researchers are involved in hundreds of cancer-specific clinical trials and research projects.
Dr. Pasche is also the co-inventor of the TheraBionic P1 device, a novel, handheld, portable device that emits low levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, which are amplitude-modulated at tumor-specific frequencies. The device is coupled with a spoon-shaped antenna placed on the patient’s tongue during treatment administered in three one-hour sessions daily, delivering low levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields throughout the patient’s body. The electromagnetic fields block the growth of tumor cells without affecting healthy tissue. Multiple studies over two decades have shown that using the TheraBionic P1 device results in tumor shrinkage, blocks new cancer cell growth, and increases overall survival rates. Furthermore, patients undergoing treatment in these studies did not experience debilitating side effects associated with other cancer-fighting therapies. The TheraBionic P1 device is FDA-approved for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Karmanos was the first site worldwide to offer this treatment in November 2024.
Karmanos offers hundreds of promising new treatments and serves cancer patients in over 46 counties in the state. As an experienced medical oncologist, Dr. Pasche understands the importance of oncologist-patient and oncologist-caregiver relationships, having spent decades treating patients facing gastrointestinal cancers. And as a researcher at the forefront of new drug and medical device therapies, he has directly contributed to advancements that have improved his patients’ lives. Dr. Pasche ensures the organization remains dedicated to its vision: A world free of cancer. He encourages Karmanos clinicians to start each day with this in mind, whether by encountering patients, analyzing clinical trial results, or creating potential new treatments in the lab.
Dr. Pasche is also a member of the Gastrointestinal and Neuroendocrine Oncology Multidisciplinary Team and the Molecular Therapeutics Research Program at Karmanos. Prior to joining Karmanos, Dr. Pasche served as director of the Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center, principal investigator of the NCI CCSG award, chair of the Department of Cancer Biology from 2014 to 2022, and the Charles L. Spurr Endowed Chair of Cancer Research. Additionally, he directed the reorganization of its scientific programs and recruited 72 new faculty members. These efforts led to the successful renewal of the organization’s NCI core grant in 2016 and again in 2021.
Before that, he was chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he expanded the clinical and research programs, recruited 19 new faculty members, and tripled the division's funding. He was also the deputy director of the University of Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Center and the founder of the Cancer Genetics Program at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Read the complete list of Becker’s 2025 Academic Medical Center CEOs to Know here.