The director of Georgetown’s nationally recognized Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center will step down from his position at the end of this month to direct the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, administrators announced Monday.

Richard Pestell, who began directing the Lombardi Center in 2002 and also served as chair of the Oncology Department and associate vice president of the Medical Center, will depart Georgetown on Nov. 30.

In addition to directing the Kimmell Center, Pestell will serve as associate dean of the Medical College and vice president of oncology services at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, said Stuart Bondurant, interim executive vice president of health sciences, in an e-mail to the Medical Center community.

Pestell said in a brief e-mail that he is grateful to his colleagues at the Medical Center.

“It has been a wonderful and successful time here at Georgetown,” Pestell said. “I have GU to thank for the promotion to this new opportunity in Philadelphia.”

Bondurant thanked Pestell for his years of service and dedication at the cancer center.

“Lombardi’s research and education programs are strong, highly productive and extremely promising,” he said. “I am deeply appreciative of Richard’s contributions during his time at Georgetown, and wish him the best in his new endeavors.”

Bondurant said Pestell has made important contributions to the study of cancer and has helped the Medical Center achieve its potential for quality education and clinical care.

“He has … recruited a group of outstanding scientists to the Lombardi team,” he said.

Several projects Pestell started at Lombardi have helped to increase the quality of education and patient care at the Medical Center, Bondurant added.

Pestell played an active role in the opening of the Capital Breast Care Center in southeast D.C. in 2004, Medical Center spokeswoman Laura Cavender said.

The breast care center was created to respond to the rate of cancer-related deaths in the District – the highest rate in the nation, Cavender said.

In the center’s first year of operation, over 600 people who would probably not have received treatment at other locations were given medical attention, she added.

“Women who would not have otherwise gotten mammograms were diagnosed with breast cancer and have received potentially life-saving treatment,” she said.

Bondurant will be consulting various officials from the Lombardi Center and GUMC to select an interim director in coming weeks. Administrators will later conduct a national search to permanently fill the position.

Cavender said that she expected an announcement regarding the interim director to be made shortly.

“We remain deeply committed to supporting the important ongoing work at Lombardi,” she said.

Georgetown University Hospital, which has been under the management of MedStar Health since 2000, will continue to require the attention of the next director of the Lombardi Center, Cavender added.

“The head of Lombardi is key to that ongoing relationship given Lombardi’s stake in the research, education and clinical enterprises at Georgetown,” she said.