This year marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of The Chemotherapy Foundation. Founded by Ezra M. Greenspan, MD, in 1968, with the goal of advancing effective cancer treatments, The Chemotherapy Foundation helped propel the modern era of chemotherapy and the later development of targeted therapies. To celebrate the event, The Chemotherapy Foundation held its Innovation Gala on November 7, 2018, at the Russian Tea Room in New York. The event coincided with the presentation of the 36th Annual Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium.
With a moment of silence, the Innovation Gala paid homage to the work and lives of Jimmie Holland, MD, who died on December 24, 2017, and her husband, James F. Holland, MD, who died a few months later, on March 22, 2018. The event also honored the career of Eric Manheimer, MD, former Medical Director of Bellevue Hospital and the author of Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital, which chronicles the lives of 12 patients, including his own diagnosis and recovery from throat cancer.
(1) Dr. Manheimer (center) answers questions about Twelve Patients from Valerie Smaldone, moderator of the evening’s events, and Franco M. Muggia, MD, Professor, Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health and Chairman and Medical Director of The Chemotherapy Foundation.
(2) The Innovation Gala recognized the cancer advocacy work of actor Pierce Brosnan with The Chemotherapy Foundation’s Humanitarian Award. Mr. Brosnan lost his first wife, Cassandra Harris, and his daughter, Charlotte, to ovarian cancer. Mr. Brosnan (left), Dr. Muggia, and Mr. Brosnan’s wife, Keely Shaye Smith.
(3) Pierce Brosnan accepts The Chemotherapy Foundation’s Humanitarian Award from Dr. Muggia.
Photo credit: Getty Images.
