The Society Pages
Alfred G. Knudson Jr., MD,
PhD (1922 – 2016)
Alfred G. Knudson Jr., MD, PhD, former president
and scientific director of the Fox Chase Cancer
Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, passed
away on July 14, 2016. He was 93 years old.
Dr. Knudson is credited with publishing the
“two-hit” theory of cancer development, for
which he received the 1998 Albert Lasker Clinical
Medical Researcher Award and the 2004 Kyoto
Prize. His research led to the discovery of anti-oncogenes (later called tumor
suppressor genes) and has informed the study of other hereditary cancers,
such as breast, ovary, colon, and kidney cancers. He is also credited with the
idea of monitoring patients who are pre-disposed to cancer for prevention
and early detection.
Dr. Knudson received a Bachelor of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1944 and a medical degree from Columbia University
in 1947. He earned his doctorate in biochemistry and genetics in 1956 from Cal
Tech. Dr. Knudson was also a Navy and Army veteran. He spent his early career at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and the University
of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, where he served as dean,
before moving to Fox Chase, where he worked for 40 years.
Dr. Knudson is survived by Anna Meadows, his wife of 39 years; three
daughters from his first marriage, Linda Gaul, Nancy Knudson, and Dorene
Knudson; three stepchildren, Brian Meadows, Adam Meadows, and Elizabeth
Meadows; 10 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
David Maloney Named
First Klorfine Chair at Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Center
David Maloney, MD,
PhD, a member in
the Clinical Research
Division at Fred
Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center in
David Maloney, MD, Seattle, Washington,
PhD
was named the first
recipient of the Leonard and Norma Klorfine Endowed Chair
for Clinical Research – a position that
honors an individual who has improved
health and saved lives through his or her
research.
Dr. Maloney is a renowned immunotherapy researcher and physician who
specializes in hematologic malignancies.
He was part of the team that discovered
that antibodies that target lymphoma
cells could be generated and delivered
to patients as a cancer-specific therapy
and led the initial development of rituximab, which became the first monoclonal antibody approved for the treatment
of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Source: Fred Hutchinson news release, June 24, 2016.
James G. White, MD
(1929 – 2016)
James G. White, MD, professor of pediatrics,
laboratory medicine, and pathology at the University of Minnesota, died peacefully at home with
his family on July 8, 2016. He was 86 years old.
Dr. White had been a professor for more than
50 years when he retired in 2014. He was devoted
to his family, his work as a hematologist, and
to the game of golf. His love of science and his
outstanding productivity resulted in his recognition as one of the world’s
leading authorities on blood platelet ultrastructure. The precision of specimen
preparation and the clarity of his photomicrographs were widely acclaimed as
the standards to which others aspired.
Examples of Dr. White’s magnificent work are prominently displayed in
major hematology texts, as well as in his more than 700 scientific publications. His long-term investigation of structure-function relationships resulted
in an important new understanding of the platelet open canalicular system
and the mechanism of granule secretion. These basic studies enlightened the
pathophysiology of many platelet secretory disorders, including the Hermansky–Pudlak and grey platelet syndromes. He also made important contributions to the definition of the structural alterations in MYH9 platelet disorders,
and other platelet abnormalities.
Dr. White also mentored numerous platelet investigators and was a
willing collaborator with colleagues worldwide. He was an active member of
the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and especially loved when ASH
took him from Minnesota to a warmer climate to play golf with esteemed
colleagues before annual meetings. His joviality, amiability, warmth, and
kindness were always present at ASH poster sessions. He received many
honors including the Hemostasis & Thrombosis Research Society Lifetime
Achievement Award in 2013.
Dr. White will be greatly missed, but long remembered, by his University
of Minnesota colleagues and by hematologists and platelet investigators
around the world.
—Written by Gerhard J. Johnson, MD, and Gregory M. Vercellotti, MD, from the University of Minnesota
12
ASH Clinical News
Leukemia, Lymphoma
Researchers Awarded Funding
from Pershing Square Sohn
Cancer Research Alliance
The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer
Research Alliance announced the winners of its third annual Pershing Square
Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in
Cancer Research. Each recipient receives $200,000 in funding per year for
up to three years to pursue explorative
research.
Three hematologic researchers
received the prize:
• Omar Abdel-Wahab, MD, Memorial
Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Research focus: identification of
novel transcripts, pathways, and
therapeutic strategies to target
spliceosomal-mutant malignancies
in leukemias
• Uttiya Basu, PhD, Columbia
University Medical Center
Research focus: infectious diseaseinduced DNA alterations in B cell
malignancies, with a goal of developing antibody mediated-therapy for B
cell lymphomas
Research focus: using new computational and biochemical methods to
target and re-program specific sites
of epigenetic aggressiveness in AML
(acute myeloid leukemia) patients
Source: Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance press release,
May 4, 2016.
Dean Lee Named Director
of Cell Therapy Program at
Nationwide Children’s
Hospital
Dean Lee, MD, PhD,
was named the director
of the Cellular Therapy
and Cancer Immunotherapy Program for the
Division of Hematology/
Oncology/Bone Marrow
Dean Lee, MD, PhD
Transplant and Center
for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases
at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in
Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Lee will also serve
as the director of cellular therapy at The
Ohio State University Comprehensive
Cancer Center.
In this joint role as director of both
cellular therapy programs, Dr. Lee will
oversee clinical trials and translational
research at each institution to develop
innovative immune treatments, including cellular therapy.
Source: Nationwide Children’s Hospital news release, July 1, 2016.
Philip Pancari Joins Fox Chase
Cancer Center
Philip A. Pancari, MD,
has joined the Department of Hematology/
Oncology at the Fox
Chase Cancer Center
– Temple University
Philip A. Pancari,
MD
Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of the bone
marrow transplant program.
Dr. Pancari earned his medical degree from Boston University School of
Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, then
worked as an internal medicine intern
and resident at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, and completed a hematology/oncology fellowship
at Temple University and Fox Chase.
Source: Fox Chase Cancer Center press release, July 2, 2016.
• Christopher Mason, PhD, Weill
Cornell Medical College
September 2016