isbtc/sitc Exceptional Service Award Recipients Awarded October 3, 2010 for distinguished leadership, continued contribution, and consummate dedication which fostered the growth and success of isbtc. Michael B. Atkins, MD Michael B. Atkins, MD, is currently Deputy Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office, Director of the Cutaneous Oncology Program, and Director of the Biologic Therapy Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. (BIDMC) He is leader of the Kidney Cancer Program at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and also a Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Atkins completed his medical education at Tufts University School of Medicine, and postgraduate training at the Cancer Center at Tufts New England Medical Center Hospital. There he held several academic and hospital appointments, before joining the staff at BIDMC in 1997. Since 1997, Dr. Atkins has developed and led several programs at BIDMC and Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), most notably in cutaneous oncology, renal cancer, and clinical trials. Dr. Atkins major research interests are immunotherapy of malignancy, with specific emphasis on the use of cytokines such as interleukin 2, treatment of melanoma and renal cell carcinoma, predictive markers for response to biologic therapy, and antiangiogenic and targeted therapies. His research work has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, various foundations, and several pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Atkins is also Director of the DF/HCC Kidney Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant and co principal investigator of the DF/HCC Skin Cancer SPORE. He has been on the editorial boards of several journals, including Cancer, Journal of Translational Medicine, Kidney Cancer Journal, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and is Associate Editor to Journal of Immunotherapy. He has authored over 250 peer reviewed original research articles, book chapters, review articles and editorials and edited three books. Dr. Atkins also serves on the advisory board of the Melanoma Foundation of New England, the Melanoma Research Foundation and the Kidney Cancer Association, has served on program committees for ASCO and American Association for Cancer Research, and is past president of the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer.
Robert O. Dillman, MD, FACP Dr. Dillman is the Grace E. Hoag Endowed Chair, and Executive Medical and Scientific Director of Hoag Cancer Institute in Newport Beach, CA. He is also a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California Irvine. Dr. Dillman earned his BA from Stanford, and MD from Baylor College of Medicine where he also completed internal medicine residency and was a chief resident. He completed a hematology/oncology fellowship at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). He is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hematology. Dr. Dillman was Assistant Director of the UCSD Cancer Center and Chief of Hematology/Oncology at the San Diego VA Medical Center, and then the Director of Experimental Clinical Oncology and Associate Director of the Ida M. Green Cancer Center of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California. He has been at Hoag Hospital since 1989. He served as Chairman of the Cancer Biotherapy Research Group (1990-1999), President of Orange County American Cancer Society (1991-1993), President of the Inter-American Society for Chemotherapy (1997-1999), and President of the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (2000-2002) for whom he also served two different terms on the board of directors. Dr. Dillman has authored or co-authored more than 300 scientific articles, reviews, book chapters, and monographs. He is recognized internationally for his work in lung cancer, lymphoma, CLL, melanoma and renal cell cancer. He was a pioneer in cancer biotherapy and immunotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies, interleukin-2, adoptive cellular therapy and autologous cancer cell vaccines. He is a highly regarded medical educator, having delivered more than 700 invited lectures throughout the US and 10 foreign countries. From 1986-1994 he co-chaired the annual International Conference on Monoclonal Antibody Immunoconjugates for Cancer in San Diego. In 2004, he delivered the Plenary Address at the 11 th International Conference on Human Antibodies and Hybridomas in Dublin, Ireland, and in 2008 he was a keynote speaker at the 19 th Annual Antibody Engineering and 6 th Annual Antibody Therapeutics Conference in San Diego, CA. He has chaired or co-chaired 15 national or international educational symposia. In 1992, Dr. Dillman became the first hematologist or oncologist in Orange County, California to be selected as one of the Best Doctors in America, and has been so named in every edition from 1992-2010. In addition, he has been named as a Top Doctor, Top Physician, Best Doctor, and Physician of Excellence in Orange County. In 2006 he was named Orange County Physician of the Year by the Orange County Medical Association. In 2008, Dr. Dillman was named the Grace E. Hoag Endowed Chair at Hoag. During his tenure as Medical Director of the Hoag Cancer Center, the 5-year relative survival rate for Hoag patients with invasive cancer improved from 58 percent to 77 percent, compared to a national figure of 66%. In 2008, the program was designated as an outstanding comprehensive community cancer program by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons, and Dr. Dillman was the recipient of a Commission on Cancer Liaison Physician Outstanding Performance Award. In that year he was also named as Executive Medical Director for the Hoag Cancer Center of Excellence. In 2009 he was the honoree of the Beckstrand Cancer Foundation.
Michael T. Lotze, MD Dr. Lotze is currently a Professor of Surgery, Immunology, and Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He also serves as the Vice Chair of Research, Department of Surgery and the Associate Director for Strategic Partnerships at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Dr. Lotze received his Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences and MD at Northwestern University (Evanston, Chicago) in 1973 and 1974. Dr. Lotze's primary area of research is in tumor immunology, particularly the role of cellular therapy using dendritic cells and NK cells. His current research interests include the further identification of clinical biomarkers and surrogates in the setting of chronic inflammatory disease, the analysis and application of biomedical instrumentation including multicolor flow cytometry, high content imaging of intracellular signaling in response to cytokines, and the role of Damage Associated Molecular Pattern Molecules [DAMPs] in tissue injury, repair, and cancer. Dr. Lotze attended his first SBT meeting in Williamsburg in 1989 where he presented on IL-4 Therapy, helped organize the 1991 and 1998 meetings in Pittsburgh, was President 1998-2000 and developed the first Primer on Tumor Immunology, the workshop on Cancer Biomarkers in 2002 and the Cancer and Inflammation Meeting in 2008. He helped found the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies in 2000 and has been the isbtc representative since its origin. Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD Dr. Rosenberg is Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and a Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. Dr. Rosenberg received his BA and MD degrees at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and a PhD in Biophysics at Harvard University. After completing his residency training in surgery in 1974 at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts Dr. Rosenberg became the Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute, a position he has held to the present time. Dr. Rosenberg has pioneered the development of immunotherapy that has resulted in the first effective immunotherapies for selected patients with advanced cancer. He has also pioneered the development of gene therapy and was the first to successfully insert foreign genes into humans and to conduct clinical studies of the gene therapy of cancer. More recently he and his group have cloned the genes encoding cancer regression antigens and have used these to develop cancer vaccines for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. His recent studies of cell transfer therapies have resulted in cancer regressions in patients associated with the clonal repopulation of lymphocytes with anti-tumor reactivity. Dr. Rosenberg has been the recipient of numerous awards. He received the Meritorious Service Medal for the U.S. Public Health Service in 1981 and again in 1986 For unsurpassed excellence and leadership in basic research and clinical investigation relating to the cellular biology and immunology in cancer and its treatment, the Friedrich Sasse Prize from the University of West Berlin, Germany in 1986, the Nils Alwell Prize from Stockholm, Sweden in 1987, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from The Johns
Hopkins University in 1987, the Simon M. Shubitz Prize from the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center in 1988, The Griffuel Prize for Research from the French Association for Research on Cancer in 1988 and the Milken Family Foundation Cancer Award in 1988. Dr. Rosenberg twice received the Armand Hammer Cancer Prize for pioneering work in cancer research in 1985 and 1988. In 1991, he received the Karnofsky Prize, the highest honor given by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In 1998, he was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He received the John Wayne Award for Clinical Research from the Society of Clinical Oncology in 1996, the Heath Memorial Award from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2002, the Flance-Karl Award, the highest honor accorded by the American Surgical Association in 2002 for innumerable contributions to the service of clinical surgery and in 2003 he received the annual prize for scientific excellence in medicine from the American-Italian Cancer Foundation. In 2005 he received the inaugural Richard V. Smalley, MD Memorial Award, the highest honor given by the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer. Dr. Rosenberg is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and served on its Board of directors. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the Society of University Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the American Association of Immunologists among others. Dr. Rosenberg is the author of over 950 articles in the scientific literature covering various aspects of cancer research and has authored 8 books. A study published by the Institute for Scientific Information in May, 1999 revealed that Dr. Rosenberg was the most cited clinician in the world in the field of oncology for the 17 years between 1981 and 1998. Mario Sznol, MD Dr. Mario Sznol graduated from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, Texas. He trained in internal medicine at BCM and completed a medical oncology fellowship in the Department of Neoplastic Diseases, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. He spent the next twelve years in the Biologics Evaluation Section (BES), Investigational Drug Branch (IDB), Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program of the National Cancer Institute, and was Head of the BES from 1994-1999. He attended in the Biological Response Modifiers Program, NCI, from 1988-1996 and on the Immunotherapy Service of the Surgery Branch, NCI, from 1997-1999. From 1999 to 2004 Dr. Sznol was a Vice President and Executive Officer of Vion Pharmaceuticals in New Haven, CT. Dr. Sznol is currently Professor of Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and is co-director of the Melanoma Program; Physician Head of the Office of Protocol Review and Monitoring; Chair of the Yale Cancer Center Protocol Review Committee; and co-director of Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer. Dr. Sznol was a member of the NCI Decision Network of the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, NCI, 1994-1999, is currently a member of the Investigational Drug Steering Committee (IDSC), NCI, and Chair of the Immunotherapy Task Force of the IDSC. He served on the Editorial Advisory Boards of the Journal of National Cancer Institute, Journal of Immunotherapy, Investigational New Drugs, and Journal of Translational Medicine. He was a Member of the Board of Directors, International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer from 2003-2008. Dr. Sznol s interests include investigational treatment for melanoma and renal cancer, immunotherapy, and phase I/II drug development.
Robert H. Wiltrout, PhD Robert H. Wiltrout, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR), home to the basic, clinical, and translational research enterprise located within the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda and Frederick, Maryland. He serves as a member of NCI s Scientific Program Leaders Committee, co-chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee for NCI s Experimental Therapeutics Program, and chairs CCR s Center of Excellence in Immunology. Dr. Wiltrout has authored more than 200 papers in the areas of innate immune response regulation, cytokine biology, and the biological therapy of renal cell carcinoma. His early research studied mechanisms of in vivo regulation of natural killer (NK) cells and the role of NK cells in limiting the formation and progression of metastases in major non-lymphoid organs such as the lungs and liver. His laboratory has elucidated the effects and interactions of NK and NKT cells on inflammation and tumor outcome in the liver. The team has contributed novel insights into the in vivo functions of the CD40 costimulatory molecule expressed on both antigen presenting cells and on renal cancer cells. Recently they has shown that combinations of IL-2 with agonist CD40 antibody can have profound IL-12-dependent antitumor effects, while also impacting the quality of both primary and secondary immune responses against metastatic kidney cancer. Wiltrout s laboratory has also translated basic science findings in the area of cytokine biology into several completed or ongoing clinical trials to assess the effects of IL-2 and IL-12; they are currently contributing to NCI s early phase development of IL-15. Dr. Wiltrout received a BA degree from Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA in 1972, a MS in Microbiology from the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA in 1975, and a PhD in Immunology from Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI in 1979. Dr. Wiltrout has been the recipient of two NIH merit awards, a Career Achievement Award from the Department of Health and Human Services, and an award as Federal Laboratory Director of the Year by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for the mid-atlantic region in 2009, and nationally in 2010.