Jerome Belinson MD

President 

Jerome L Belinson, MD is the Ex-officio Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation 1990-2000. He has dedicated his career to advancing the screening and treatment of gynecologic cancers.

Dr. Belinson serves as Professor of Surgery with the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of the Case Western Reserve University. He trained in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University’s Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, and was a Fellow in Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital.  Dr Belinson began the first formal gynecologic oncology service at the University of Vermont in 1977.  He has previously held full professorships at the University of Vermont (tenured) and The Ohio State University.

Voted Teacher of The Year at the University of Vermont, and on two occasions at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Belinson received the 2004 distinguished graduate Citation of Merit from the University of Missouri Medical School, The Bruce Hubbard Stewart Award for Humanitarianism in Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, and is consistently listed among the “Best Doctors in America”.

Dr. Belinson is the founding director of Preventive Oncology International, Inc. (“P.O.I.”), a research organization that blends humanitarian work with investigative science. Dr. Belinson has served as an Advisor to the Ministry of Science in India, the medical advisory board for the Gates Foundation START project (to develop a rapid, low cost HPV test), and serves on the Board of Directors of Grounds for Health, an organization that provides care for women in coffee-growing regions of the world, and the Global Initiative Against HPV and Cervical Cancer.

Dr Belinson has worked for more than 15 years in many rural Chinese provinces. His initial study, known as SPOCCS I, received international acclaim and continues to serve as a model for study design in epidemiology courses around the world.

In 2010 Dr. Belinson was awarded “The People’s Republic of China Friendship Award.” This award, established in the 1950’s, is the People’s Republic of China’s highest award for foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s economic and social progress.

Dr. Belinson and his colleagues of Preventive Oncology International, Inc. have also been recognized for their careful adherence to and promotion of human values and the proper conduct of studies involving human subjects in the developing world. Over the past 15 years many studies have been completed resulting in dozens of publication and presentations at national and international meetings.In addition to many scientific contributions, the work of P.O.I. has resulted in the approval of liquid based cytology and HPV testing in China, the introduction of many other new technologies, as well as numerous educational sessions and international exchanges for Chinese physicians. These activities lead his Chinese collaborators to develop a cervical cancer consortium throughout China, and also lead to collaborations between the Chinese and the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation. Most importantly, almost 50,000 women who have participated in the studies received screening for cervical cancer, often for the only time in their lives.

R. Gerald Pretorius MD

Vice President

Bin Yang MD PhD

Treasurer                                                                                

Dr. Yang is a full staff and board-certified pathologist in the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Institute of the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Yang is clinically specialized in surgical pathology, gynecologic pathology, and cytopathology including fine needle aspiration.

Dr. Yang is also a molecular pathologist. His studies focus on the identification, validation and translation of advanced molecular techniques into clinical utility, including disease risk assessment, early detection, guidance for targeted therapy and prognostic prediction. He is a leading expert in molecular cytology. His studies on translation of molecular tools in early and accurate detection of cancer cells in cytology specimens have gained recognition nationwide.

Dr. Yang has received numerous awards and honors for his efforts and contributions in molecular pathology and molecular cytology. He has received several research awards from Cleveland Clinic, including the Lowers Award, the Hoffman Award and the Innovator Award. He was honored by United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, including the Hans Popper Award from the Hepatopathology Society and the Research Award from the Gastrointestinal Pathology Society.  He received the ASC Seed Award in 2008 and was awarded the Geno Saccomanno New Frontiers Award by American Society of Cytopathology in 2002 and 2007 respectively. Dr. Yang is the only person so far to have received this prestigious award twice.

Dr. Yang is also very involved in pathology and cytology education. He has given numerous speeches and lectures at national and international conferences. In past 6 years, he has given more than 100 lectures in 23 provinces and cities in China.  His efforts in promoting pathology education and bridging pathology communities between US and China have been recognized and commended . Dr. Yang received the CAP President’s Honor for his efforts in promoting high standard pathology practice in China in 2010. He is past President of the Chinese American Pathologist Association, a professional organization which has more than 500 Chinese-American pathologist members. He has also organized several international workshops in Hong Kong and China.

Dr. Yang devotes a great deal of his time and efforts to cervical cancer prevention in China. He is the consultant pathologist for Preventive Oncology International, Inc. and has participated in several major projects of cervical cancer screening in rural under-served areas in China. For his dedication, he received the ASC Patient Advocacy Award in 2008.

Dr. Yang received his M.D. in Zhengzhou University School of Medicine in China in 1983 and his M.S. in Pathology in 1986. He received his Ph.D. in molecular biology at the Case Western Reserve University in 1996. He finished his residency training in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in 2000. He went on to his surgical pathology fellowship training at the Washington University in 2001, and his Cytopathology and Molecular Pathology fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore in 2003.