Roberto Pili, MD

Roberto Pili, MD, is associate dean for cancer research and integrative oncology, and professor and chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine.

As associate dean, he is responsible for building the academic infrastructure for innovative and collaborative cancer research at UB and on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, particularly in the areas of immunotherapies, drug development and delivery, epigenetics and lifestyle-dietary interventions. He is the founder of the UB Cancer Research Consortium.

An international recognized expert in genitourinary malignancies, Pili specializes in research on the role of epigenetic modifications in overcoming drug resistance and modulating response to immunotherapies. His laboratory is also studying the impact of dietary interventions as adjuvant tools in patients receiving cancer treatments.

Pili holds several patent applications and is conducting several investigators-initiated clinical trials for the treatment of genitourinary malignancies. His laboratory is based at the school’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and his work is funded by grants from the National Cancer Institutes and the Department of Defense.  

Pili received his medical degree from Catholic University School of Medicine in Rome and completed fellowships with National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging in biological chemistry and Johns Hopkins University in medical oncology. He has published 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and serves as a reviewer for several medical journals and grants study sections of the National Cancer Institutes and the Department of Defense.