In Memoriam
Oncology World Mourns the Loss of Jimmie C. Holland, MD, Founder, Field of Psycho-Oncology
The ASCO Post
Jimmie C. Holland, MD, died suddenly on December 24, 2017, at the age of 89 years. Dr. Holland was the Attending Psychiatrist and Wayne E. Chapman Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center and Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. Internationa...
Emil 'Tom' Frei III, MD 1924–2013
Ronald Piana
The pages of medical history are dog-eared with breakthroughs that have transformed medicine and saved lives. One of those dog-eared pages belongs to Emil Frei III, MD, known to his colleagues and friends as Tom. In the dawn of oncology, Dr. Frei, along with his associate, Emil Freireich, MD, did so...
Celebrating the Life of Jimmie Holland, MD
Jo Cavallo and Ronald Piana
The oncology community mourns the sudden passing of Jimmie C. Holland, MD, who died on December 24, 2017, at the age of 89. Dr. Holland’s achievements over her 40-year career are legend. They include the founding of the subspecialty of psycho-oncology, the establishment of a full-time Psychiatry S...
J. Evan Sadler, MD, PhD, Expert in Blood-Clotting Disorders, Dies at 67
The ASCO Post
Pioneering hematologist J. Evan Sadler, MD, PhD, an expert in the study and treatment of blood-clotting disorders, died December 13, 2018, at his home in Clayton, Missouri, following a brief illness. He was 67. Dr. Sadler was the Director of Hematology, the Ira M. Lang Professor of Medicine, and a...
Internationally Renowned Statistician on Cancer Clinical Trials, Daniel J. Sargent, PhD, Dies
Ronald Piana
In the 20th century, the field of statistics developed and was gradually applied to clinical research. The use of statistics allows clinical researchers to form reasonable and accurate inferences from collected information and to make sound decisions in the presence of uncertainty. Moreover, maste...
Husband and Wife Leave a Giant Legacy in Oncology
Ronald Piana
The remarkable careers of Jimmie C. Holland, MD, and James F. Holland, MD, spanned collectively for more than a century, leaving an indelible footprint in oncology clinical care and research. Synonymous with cancer care itself, the Hollands were a living documentary of the rich and dramatic history ...
Tribute to Bernard Fisher, MD
Ronald Piana
Bernard Fisher, MD, who died on October 16, 2019, at the age of 101, is recognized today for his groundbreaking research in breast cancer, which ultimately ended the standard practice of performing the Halsted radical mastectomy, a treatment that had been in place for more than 75 years. His labor...
In Memoriam: Eddie Reed, MD
The ASCO Post
Eddie Reed, MD, was a pioneer in the molecular pharmacology of DNA-damaging anticancer agents and the clinical development of paclitaxel for ovarian cancer. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine in 1979, completed his internship and residency at Stanford University in 1981, and was th...
Michael C. Perry, MD, 1945–2011
The ASCO Post
Michael C. Perry, MD, a renowned cancer clinician, educator, researcher, and administrator at the University of Missouri, Columbia, for more than 35 years, passed away October 23, 2011, after a long and courageous battle with polycystic kidney disease and cancer. He was 66. Dr. Perry served as Dire...
In Memoriam: John Michael Fitzpatrick, MCh, FRSCI
The ASCO Post
John Michael Fitzpatrick, MCh, FRSCI, was one of Europe’s most highly regarded medical opinion leaders. He studied medicine at University College Dublin and did his clinical internship at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin. While doing his residency at St. Vincent’s, he decided to become a urologist, ...
Mourned and Missed
Ronald Piana
The respected members of the oncology community who are listed below passed away in 2019–2020. The ASCO Post remembers them, their lives, and their contributions to cancer research and treatment. Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, FASCO The acute myeloid leukemia (AML) community lost one of its shining ligh...
In Memoriam: Jesse L. Steinfeld, MD
The ASCO Post
In 1971, then Surgeon General Jesse L. Steinfeld, MD, took Big Tobacco to task, stating, “Let me suggest that certain purveyors of cigarettes stop making remarks about how some young mothers in childbirth might welcome smaller babies. The mother who smokes is subjecting the unborn child to the adver...
Honoring the Life of Nancy E. Armitage
The ASCO Post
The University of Nebraska community mourns the loss of dedicated community leader and volunteer Nancy E. Armitage of Omaha. She died February 27, 2017, from complications associated with pancreatic cancer. Nancy is remembered for the support and encouragement she offered to others over the years...
In Memoriam: Lee W. Wattenberg, MD
The ASCO Post
One of the early giants in the field of cancer prevention, Lee W. Wattenberg, MD, published in 1966 what would be regarded as a landmark paper in the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) journal Cancer Research. During his research, he reviewed 36 years of animal studies, looking at the e...
In Memoriam: Dorothy ‘Dottie’ Thomas
The ASCO Post
Dorothy “Dottie” Thomas was wife and research partner to 1990 Nobel laureate E. Donnall Thomas, MD, pioneer of the bone marrow transplant and former Director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. and Mrs. Thomas formed the core of a team that proved bone ma...
The ASCO Post Remembers
The ASCO Post
The ASCO Post remembers the following members of the oncology community who passed away in 2018–2019. Please write to editor@ASCOPost.com to recognize others and pay tribute in a future issue. Sydney Brenner, MSc, MBBCh, DPhil Sydney Brenner, MSc, MBBCh, DPhil, died on April 6, 2019, at age 92, ac...
The ASCO Post Remembrances and Tributes
The ASCO Post
THE ASCO POST remembers the following members of the oncology community who passed away in 2017–2018. Please write to editor@ASCOPost.com to recognize others and pay tribute in a future issue. Angela Hartley Brodie, PhD Angela Hartley Brodie, PhD, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pharmaco...
The ASCO Post Remembers and Pays Tribute to ...
The ASCO Post
The ASCO Post remembers the following members of the oncology community who passed away in 2016–2017. Please write to editor@ASCOPost.com to recognize others and pay tribute in a future issue. Stephen K. Carter, MD October 30, 1937–November 14, 2016 Stephen K. Carter, MD, a renowned oncologist ...
Leader in International Clinical Trials, Robert L. Comis, MD, FASCO, Dies at 71
The ASCO Post
Robert L. Comis, MD, FASCO, Co-Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, succumbed to a sudden illness at his home and died on May 10, 2017, at the age of 71. A giant in national and international clinical research since 1977, Dr. Comis is known as a champion of patient access to cancer clini...
Nobel Laureate and Pioneer in Molecular Biology, Sydney Brenner, MSc, MBBCh, DPhil, Dies at 92
Sydney Brenner, MSc, MBBCh, DPhil, died on April 6, 2019, at age 92, according to The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore, where Dr. Brenner had served as a Senior Fellow. Dr. Brenner was conferred the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002 for his pioneering w...
Robert O. Hickman, MD, Inventor of the Hickman Catheter, Dies at 92
Robert O. Hickman, MD, a pediatric nephrologist and inventor of a catheter that revolutionized care for patients with cancer, died on April 4, 2019. He was 92. Dr. Hickman was born on September 27, 1926, in Monticello, Utah. He served in the U.S. Air Force in the mid-1940s and married Lucy Jean Whi...
Hematologist Francesco Lo Coco, MD, Dies in Rome at 63
Hematologist Francesco Lo Coco, MD, known for his research accomplishments in both acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), died in Rome on March 3, 2019. He was 63. After graduating from the Medical School in Pisa, he moved to La Sapienza University of Rome in 1981. F...
In Memoriam: ASCO Remembers Founding Member Jane Cooke Wright, MD
Earlier this year, ASCO and the oncology community at large lost a true pioneer, mentor, and renowned researcher. It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Jane Cooke Wright, MD, one of seven founding members of ASCO—the only woman among the founders—and the Society’s first Secretary/Trea...
Breast Cancer Specialist Lawrence J. Solin, MD, FACR, FASTRO, Dies at Age 66
Lawrence J. Solin, MD, FACR, FASTRO, a champion of breast-conserving therapy for women with breast cancer, died unexpectedly on March 3 at the age of 66. At the time of his death, Dr. Solin was Professor Emeritus, Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsyl...
Noted Pediatric Oncologist, Robert J. Arceci, MD, PhD, Dies
Over the past 50 years, great strides have been made in diagnosis, treatment, and survival of childhood cancer. In the 1960s, the probability of survival for a child with cancer was less than 25%, whereas today it may exceed 80%. This incredible cancer success story has been made possible by the wor...
Thomas E. Starzl, MD, PhD, ‘Father of Modern Transplantation,’ Dies at Age 90
Scientific and clinical pioneers have one thing in common: they move beyond their comfort zone and take calculated risks. One such pioneer, whose calculated risks gave hope to otherwise hopelessly ill people, was Thomas E. Starzl, MD, PhD, who performed the world’s first successful liver transplan...
Charles Rubin, MD, Pediatric Cancer Specialist, Dies at 62
The ASCO Post
Charles M. Rubin, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medicine, a highly respected specialist in the care of children with cancer, died on July 17. He was 62. An authority on all aspects of pediatric cancers, Dr. Rubin had a particular interest in brain tumors and can...
C. Everett Koop, MD, Surgeon General Under Ronald Reagan, Dies at 96
Appointed by the President and called “America’s Doctor,” the Surgeon General’s chief task is to protect and advance the health of the nation. Most of our Surgeon Generals have tiptoed around hot-button public health issues that might bruise political sensibilities and their own careers. C. Everett...
Leukemia Pioneer John M. Goldman, DM, Dies at 75
Ronald Piana
“He gave his honours to the world again,his blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace.” —William Shakespeare, Henry VIII In 1971, John M. Goldman, DM, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci, began research in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a uniformly fatal disease at the time. Over the ensuing decades, Dr. Gol...
AML Pioneer and Giant, Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, FASCO, Dies at 77
Robert Peter Gale, MD, PhD, DSc(hc), FACP, FRCP, FRCPI(hon), FRSM; Rüdiger Hehlmann, MD, PhD; and Andreas Hochhaus, MD
Physicians and scientists interested in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have lost one of the community’s shining lights with the death of Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, FASCO, on March 1, 2020, at age 77 years. Dr. Bloomfield is well known for her more than 50 years of groundbreaking research in blood can...
Cooperative Group Trial Pioneer Dr. James F. Holland Dies at 92
ASCO AND THE ONCOLOGY COMMUNITY are deeply saddened by the loss of James F. Holland, MD, FASCO, who passed away on March 22, 2018. He was 92. Dr. Holland was a Distinguished Professor of Neoplastic Diseases in the Department of Medicine at the Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at ...
Frederick Pei Li, MD, Pioneer of Cancer Genetics, Dies at 75
Frederick Pei Li, MD, who helped inaugurate the era of cancer genetics by demonstrating that people can inherit a genetic susceptibility to develop certain malignancies, died on June 12 at the age of 75. A Professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard T.H. Chan Schoo...
ASCO Remembers Patient Advocate Karen Durham
ASCO AND THE ONCOLOGY COMMUNITY mourn the loss of Karen Durham, who passed away on March 26, 2018, in Tyler, Texas. Karen was a highly respected and beloved advocate for people living with cancer. Karen was diagnosed with stage II invasive breast cancer in 1989 and began volunteering with Susan ...
Henry T. Lynch, MD, Trailblazer in Hereditary Cancers, Dies at 91
Henry T. Lynch, MD, widely known as “the father of cancer genetics,” had an early life that could have been lifted from the pages of a Louis L’Amour novel. He dropped out of high school and using a falsified birth certificate joined the U.S. Navy at 16 years old, serving as a gunner on a marine ship...
Thomas J. Dougherty, PhD, Father of Photodynamic Therapy, Dies at Age 85
The ASCO Post
Thomas J. Dougherty, PhD, the developer of modern photodynamic therapy and Chief Emeritus of Roswell Park’s Photodynamic Therapy Center, died October 2, 2018, in Buffalo, New York. “He was undoubtedly the major influence in bringing [photodynamic therapy] into the realm of cancer therapy,” said Da...
A Remembrance of H. Jean Khoury, MD
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University (Winship) is mourning the loss of an esteemed colleague: H. Jean Khoury, MD, died on May 22 at the age of 50, after a year spent battling cancer. His many colleagues and friends remember him as an outstanding physician, researcher, and educator and a re...
Oliver Smithies, PhD, Nobel Laureate Who Discovered Gene Targeting, Dies
Ronald Piana
The ability to artificially alter DNA opens the door to new scientific understanding and treatments for various diseases. Oliver Smithies, PhD, made the crucial discovery that a disease-causing gene could be modified. For that and other groundbreaking work, he, along with two other scientists, was...
Pioneer in Chemoradiation Robert B. Livingston, MD, Dies
Ronald Piana
Over the past couple of decades, chemoradiation for several cancers, such as lung and breast, has advanced in efficacy and side-effect tolerance, prolonging survival and quality of life for patients. One of the pioneers in chemoradiation, Robert B. Livingston, MD, died on September 8, 2016. Dr. L...
A Pioneering Surgeon Who Opened Doors for Others, LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr, MD, Dies at 89
Lifting himself from the barriers of the segregated South, LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr, MD, would become a nationally regarded oncologic surgeon who opened doors for other in the medical profession. His career was distinguished by “firsts,” such as the first African America President of both the American...
Johns Hopkins Radiation Oncology Pioneer, Moody Wharam, Jr, MD, Dies at 77
The ASCO Post
MOODY WHARAM, JR, MD, Professor Emeritus of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences and former Willard and Lillian Hackerman Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, died on August 10 at the age of 77. Dr. Wharam specialized in the treatment of childr...
Co-Discoverer of the Philadelphia Chromosome, Peter Nowell, MD, Dies
Ronald Piana
Peter Nowell, MD, was a pathologist at the University of Pennsylvania studying leukemia cells under a microscope when he happened to wash his slides with tap water instead of laboratory solution. Viewing the newly cleaned slides under a microscope, he saw that the water had caused the ce...
Pioneering Breast Surgeon and NSABP Chair, Bernard Fisher, MD, Dies at 101
Ronald Piana
American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn coined the term “paradigm shift” to connote a fundamental change in the basic concepts and practices of a standard scientific discipline. They are few and far between. To convince the entrenched oncologic surgery community in the 1960s and 1970s that th...
Adi Gazdar, MD, Cell Line Pioneer and Groundbreaking Pathologist, Dies
The ASCO Post
The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASCL) announced the death of Adi Gazdar, MD, of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, on December 29, 2018. Dr. Gazdar, a leader in lung cancer pathology, was a cell line pioneer and a groundbreaking pathologist. H...
Proton Therapy Leader, James D. Cox, MD, Dies at 80
Ronald Piana
THE ACCLAIMED radiation oncologist James D. Cox, MD, led MD Anderson’s Proton Therapy Center, an international center of excellence for proton therapy, research, and education, distinguished as the world’s first proton therapy facility located within a comprehensive cancer center. At the 2017 Nation...
David J. Sugarbaker, MD, Pioneer in Thoracic Surgery, Mesothelioma, Dies at 65
Ronald Piana
DAVID J. SUGARBAKER, MD, was an internationally recognized thoracic surgeon who specialized in the treatment of mesothelioma and complex thoracic cancers. To be recognized as first in a medical finding or procedure is a rare honor; Dr. Sugarbaker received that honor twice, being the first to devel...
Albert H. Owens, Jr, MD, Pioneering Johns Hopkins Oncologist, Dies
The ASCO Post
Albert H. Owens, Jr, MD, a Johns Hopkins oncologist who played a leadership role in developing oncology as a scientific discipline and clinical specialty—and who also served as President of The Johns Hopkins Hospital—died January 13 at the age of 90. In the 1960s, oncology was not a word that exi...
J. Evan Sadler, MD, PhD, Expert in Blood-Clotting Disorders, Dies at 67
The ASCO Post
Pioneering hematologist J. Evan Sadler, MD, PhD, an expert in the study and treatment of blood-clotting disorders, died December 13, 2018, at his home in Clayton, Missouri, following a brief illness. He was 67. His death was announced in a news item from the Washington University School of Medicin...
Alan S. Rabson, MD, Long-Time NCI Deputy Director and Cancer Research Stalwart, Dies at Age 92
MANY IN the cancer research and National Institutes of Health (NIH) community are mourning the loss of long-time National Cancer Institute (NCI) senior leader Alan S. Rabson, MD, who died on July 4 at the age of 92. With a distinguished scientific career that spanned 6 decades and included resea...
A Visionary in Lymphoma, Bertrand Coiffier, MD, PhD, Dies at 71
Ronald Piana
Internationally renowned lymphoma expert Bertrand Coiffier, MD, PhD, died on January 2, 2019. He was 71. Dr. Coiffier published more than 500 papers and book chapters that garnered more than 50,000 literature citations, placing him among the top 1% of the most influential researchers globally. His...
Preeminent Cancer Researcher Brian E. Henderson, MD, Dies
Brian E. Henderson, MD, began his medical path as a researcher in virology, and as a young scientist, he ventured to Africa as part of a Centers for Disease Control team to study yellow fever. The better part of his esteemed medical career, however, was as one of the world’s most respected authoriti...
