The H. Lee Moffitt Center has received a new addition to its cancer-fighting crew.

The new staff member, Brad Carter, is a breast surgeon at Moffitt as well as an associate professor of surgical oncology, or surgery dealing with cancer, in the Department of Interdisciplinary Oncology at USF.

Carter began working with Moffitt and USF six weeks ago. He was recruited by the senior surgeon at Moffitt, Charles Cox, in order to replace a surgeon who was relocated to Lakeland.

In addition to Carter’s role as a breast surgeon at Moffitt, he is also involved in research dealing with endocrine tumors. Endocrine is a type of tissue in the body that produces hormones. Carter said these types of tumors can be seen in parts of the body such as the thyroid or adrenal gland.

“In these cases, the tumors are usually functional and they make too much of the hormones,” Carter said.

Carter’s current research is based on two general ideas, angiogenesis and metastasis.

Angiogenesis deals with the development of new blood vessels in the body, which is a key step needed for tumor growth, Carter said. Metastasis is the study of how cancer cells spread from one place to another.

In both cases, Carter said he wants to use the research to see how both of these activities occur. Carter added that the research will be performed in collaboration with two other doctors in the molecular oncology program at Moffitt.

Carter came to Moffitt from the University of Maryland where he was the co-director of the breast program. At the university he was involved in teaching, as well as breast surgery.

One of the major reasons that Carter is happy to work for Moffitt is because the institution takes a multidisciplinary approach to tumor management. This approach takes surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists as well as partners in pathology and radiology and has them work together in order to provide full care to cancer patients.

“So any cancer patient that comes to Moffitt not only is primarily seen by one of the specialties, but the patient is presented to the whole breast team in order for them to get a consensus plan for how to manage that patient,” Carter said.

Another reason Carter said he prefers Moffitt is because it is involved in translational research. This research takes emerging concepts, such as angiogenesis and metastasis, and pushes them into clinical practice.

“We didn’t do it as well in Maryland as Moffitt does it here, and that was one of the major reasons I decided to come here,” Carter said.