The Society Pages
Steven D. Stadum Appointed
Vice President and COO of Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Philip W.
Majerus, MD
(1936-2016)
After a long illness, Philip W. Majerus, MD, died at home
on June 8, 2016. He was 79. For hematologists, Phil’s
passing truly represents the end of an era that was
marked indelibly by his outsize personality, towering
intellect, scientific accomplishments, and mentorship.
Phil attended Washington University Medical
School and graduated first in his class, then completed
an internship and one year of residency in internal
medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. At this
point, he acquired his first experience in laboratory
research with P. Roy Vagelos at the National Institutes
of Health, characterizing all the reactions of fatty acid
biosynthesis in E. coli.
In 1966, Phil was recruited to the Division of
Hematology-Oncology at Washington University and
within seven years was promoted to professor and,
with Stuart Kornfeld, co-director of the Division. This
inspired partnership would continue for 36 years. Phil
discovered that low-dose aspirin irreversibly inhibits
platelet cyclooxygenase and, with Herschel Harter,
conducted the first randomized double-blind placebocontrolled trial to show that low-dose aspirin reduces
the incidence of shunt thrombosis. This proof-of-principle study paved the way for others to demonstrate
that low-dose aspirin can prevent myocardial infarction and stroke. Over the next 30 years, he characterized most of the enzymes involved in phosphatidylinositol synthesis and catabolism. In addition to their
role in hemostasis, these proteins participate in neural
development, cell cycle control, bacterial virulence,
intracellular protein transport, and autophagy.
For his scientific discoveries, Phil received many
honors, including election to the National Academy of
Science and the Institute of Medicine. He was elected
president of the American Society of Hematology (ASH)
and the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
He was awarded the William Dameshek Prize by ASH,
the Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Award for
Cardiovascular Research, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb
Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cardiovascular/
Metabolic Research. Phil was proud of the accomplishments of his trainees and was especially pleased to
receive the Nature Medicine/UCSD Mentorship Award in
2002, conferred jointly with Stuart Kornfeld.
In addition to his spectacular science, Phil’s legacy
includes a uniquely inspiring approach to his career.
As he said in his presidential address to the American
Society for Clinical Investigation in 1982, “I have not
‘worked’; rather I have enjoyed the great fortune of doing what I please – medical research.” That sense of fun,
spiced with a challenge to excel, will be remembered
gratefully by his many scientific descendants.
–Written by J. Evan Sadler, MD, PhD
8
ASH Clinical News
Steven D. Stadum was appointed vice president and
chief operating officer of Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center, assuming the role
in July. In this position, Mr.
Stadum is responsible for all
Steven D. Stadum
operational activities of the research center, overseeing relations between Fred
Hutchinson and its Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
partners, the University of Washington School
of Medicine, and Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Prior to joining Fred Hutchinson, Mr.
Stadum served in a variety of leadership roles
during his 17 years at Oregon Health & Science
University’s Knight Cancer Institute, including
chief operating officer since 2010.
Mr. Stadum succeeds Myra Tanita, who retired
in December after a 26-year career at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Center of Excellence (OCE). The OCE will be established as part of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative, which charged the FDA with
creating the office to leverage the combined
skills of regulatory scientists and reviewers with
expertise in drugs, biologics, and devices.
“Dr. Pazdur is the person the FDA needs to get
the OCE up and running, because of his in-depth
understanding of the inner workings of the FDA,
his deep expertise in treating this complex disease, and his ability to move the agency forward
in this complicated task,” FDA Commiss ioner
Robert Califf, MD, said in a statement. He added
that center directors from the Center for Drug
Evaluation and Research, Center for Biologics
Evaluation and Research, and the Center for Devices and Radiological Health will work alongside
Dr. Pazdur in his role as OCE acting director.
In this role, Dr. Pazdur will also facilitate and
streamline engagement between different stakeholders in the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, including patient advocacy groups, professional associations, and members of industry and academia.
Source: FDA news release, June 29, 2016.
Source: Fred Hutchinson press release, May 8, 2016.
Newly Formed Consortium
of Hospitals Create Oncology
Precision Network to Share Data
and Access to Clinical Trials
Three hospital systems – Intermountain Healthcare, Stanford Cancer Institute, and Providence
Health and Services – have formed the Oncology
Precision Network (OPeN) in response to Vice
President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative.
The hospitals are partnering with the technology
company Syapse to use its precision medicine
data platform to share aggregated clinical, molecular, and treatment data.
The goal of the partnership is to advance
cancer care through data sharing and better
access to clinical trials, leveraging the 100,000
data sets anticipated to populate the networks
database to bring treatment insights to physicians and patients as rapidly as possible.
OPeN includes data and physicians from 11
states, 79 hospitals, and 800 clinics, and, when
fully implemented, OPeN is projected to reach
50,000 new cancer patients per year and have
more than 1.5 million historical cancer cases.
Source: Intermountain Healthcare press release, June 2, 2016.
David O. Barbe Voted PresidentElect of American Medical
Association
David O. Barbe, MD, MHA, a
family physician in Mountain
Grove, Missouri, was elected
president of the American
Medical Association (AMA)
during the organization’s
David O. Barbe, MD, annual meeting. After a yearMHA
long term as president-elect,
he will assume the office of
AMA president in June 2017.
Dr. Barbe was first elected to the AMA Board
of Trustees in 2009 and has served on numerous
AMA committees and task forces. He served as
chair of the board from 2013 to 2014 and was a
member of its executive committee from 2011 to
2015. Prior to his election to the AMA Board, Dr.
Barbe was a member of the Council on Medical
Service, serving as its chair from 2008 to 2009.
As a member of the council, Dr. Barbe participated in the development of AMA policy related to
coverage of the uninsured, health-care system
reform, Medicare reform, and health insurance
market reform.
Source: AMA press release, June 14, 2016.
Richard Pazdur Named Acting
Director of the FDA Oncology
Center of Excellence
Richard Pazdur, MD
Richard Pazdur, MD, head of
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of
Oncology Drug Products within
the Center for Drug Evaluation
and Research, has been chosen
to head the FDA’s new Oncology
Charles Mullighan
Receives Robert J.
Arceci Innovation
Award from St.
Baldrick’s Foundation
Charles Mullighan, MBBS, MSc,
MD, co-leader of the Hematological Malignancies Program
at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, was
Charles Mullighan,
MBBS, MSc, MD
August 2016