Gynecologic Oncology Faculty

Division Chief

Julian C. Schink, MD, is the John and Ruth Brewer Professor of Gynecology and Cancer Research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and Associate Director for Clinical Affairs at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.  He is a member of the Gynecologic Oncology Group, and has been a principal investigator of several cooperative group clinical trials investigating ovarian cancer chemotherapy and gestational trophoblastic disease. He recently assumed the role of Vice President of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists and has long been an active member of the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation.

Dr. Schink earned his medical degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and completed his obstetrics and gynecology residency at Northwestern University and his gynecologic-oncology fellowship at UCLA. He served on the faculty at Northwestern from 1988 - 1992 and at University of Wisconsin where he served as Vice Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1992 until 2004. He joined the faculty of Northwestern University in November 2004 to assume leadership of the Gynecologic Oncology Program and in 2006 became the Associate Director for Clinical Affairs in the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Faculty

John R. Lurain, MD is the Marcia Stenn Professor of Gynecologic Oncology at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.  He served as the John and Ruth Brewer Professor of Gynecology and Cancer Research from 1989 – 2010 and he was Head of the Section of Gynecologic Oncology at Northwestern from 1985 – 2004.  He currently is the Director of the John I. Brewer Trophoblastic Disease Center as well as the Program Director for the Fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology.

 Dr. Lurain received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in 1968 and his MD from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in 1972.  He did his residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pittsburgh Magee-Womens Hospital from 1972 – 1975.  He served in the U.S. Navy as Lieutenant Commander at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Portsmouth, VA from 1975 – 1977.  He then did a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY from 1977 – 1979.  Dr. Lurain joined the faculty of the Northwestern University Medical School as an assistant professor in 1979, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1983 and to professor in 1989.

 Dr. Lurain has been recognized with a myriad of honors.  He was named the Friends of Prentice Distinguished Physician in 2001 – 2003 and received the Compassionate Care Award from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in 2004.  He has been named one of the Best Doctors in America and Top Doctors for Cancer.  He has received the Magnus P. Urnes Award for both resident and medical student teaching from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology on several occasions as well as the CREOG National Faculty Award for Excellence in Resident Teaching.  In November 2009, he received the Gold Medal in recognition of his significant contributions to the knowledge of trophoblastic disease from the International Society for the Study of Trophoblastic Diseases. He was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society as a faculty member by the medical students at Northwestern University. 

 Dr. Lurain’s primary research interests are related to the clinical factors associated with prognosis and treatment of gestational trophoblastic diseases as well as uterine and ovarian cancers.  Dr. Lurain is an author on over 180 publications, including scientific articles, reviews, chapters and books.

Diljeet K. Singh, MD, DrPH is a Gynecologic Oncologist at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and holds an academic appointment as Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.  She is the Co-Director of the Northwestern Ovarian Cancer Early Detection and Prevention Program and in 2009 was named Director of Government and International Relations for the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

 She began her medical career as a student at Northwestern University medical school and then received her Masters in Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.  She completed an Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.  Dr. Singh’s gynecologic oncology training was completed at the MD Anderson Cancer Center where she spent 3 years in fellowship training.  She completed her Doctoral degree in Cost Analysis at the University of Texas School of Public Health in 2003.  In 2009, she enrolled in an Associate Fellowship in Integrative Medicine program at the University of Arizona.  Dr. Singh’s research interests are focused on the costs and quality of prevention and treatment of gynecologic malignancies.  Her research evaluates the costs of both high technology and low technology approaches to the prevention of cervical cancer in developing and developed countries. Her work addresses the need to tailor technology and screening techniques to specific settings and populations.  She continues to present nationally and internationally on HPV related disease and cervical cancer prevention.