The 2020 class of Giants of Cancer Care® award winners hail from around the globe, coming from locales such as Lagos, Nigeria; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Brussels, Belgium; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The 2020 class of Giants of Cancer Care® award winners hail from around the globe, coming from locales such as Lagos, Nigeria; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Brussels, Belgium; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But no matter where their journeys began, each is now a world-renowned leader in oncology practice.
The honorees can take credit for changing practice for the better and improv-ing patient care across a range of malignancies. Their peers have recognized them as people who are not just exceptional doctors, but also innovators in their respective fields.
This year’s class marks the eighth consecutive year that OncLive® has saluted the physician-scientists who are shaping oncology practice, bringing the total number of honorees recognized through the Giants of Cancer Care® program to 113. The 2020 award winners and their respective categories are:
Martine J. Piccart, MD, PhD—Breast Cancer
Laura J. van ’t Veer, PhD—Cancer Diagnostics
Clifford A. Hudis, MD—Community Outreach/Cancer Policy
Keith T. Flaherty, MD—Melanoma & Other Skin Cancers
Sagar Lonial, MD—Myeloma
Richard J. Gralla, MD—Supportive, Palliative, and/or Geriatric Care
Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD—Translational Science
This year’s Giants will accept their awards during a video presentation that will air Thursday, November 5 at 7:30 pm EST during the 38th Annual CFS® conference, hosted by Physicians’ Education Resource®, LLC (PER®).
Dr. Hudis, a breast cancer specialist who now serves as CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, put the exploratory nature of oncology practice into perspective during an interview with OncLive® in advance of the ceremony. He is scheduled to deliver the Giants of Cancer Care® Lecture at CFS®.
“To be an oncologist is to be a researcher,” said Hudis, who started his medical career in Philadelphia. “Fundamentally, this is a new field. We don’t have optimal therapies for so many of the diseases that we treat. What that means is that the challenge ahead of us is to raise the bar—to do research.”
This year’s Giants have touched the lives, and saved the lives, of hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide. Olopade applied the lessons she learned treating patients on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, to women in West Africa. van ’t Veer began her career at The Netherlands Cancer Institute, where she helped launch the Netherlands Collaborative Group on Hereditary Breast Cancer. Mok’s research helped to establish the importance of the EGFR mutation in East Asian patients with non–small cell lung cancer.
This year’s award recipients were chosen from a field of more than 800 clinicians and investigators, a record number of nominees that represents a 32% increase over 2019. A 7-member steering committee winnowed the nominees down to 75 finalists, all of whom would have been worthy recipients. An elite selection committee of more than 120 hematologists and oncologists then voted to choose the winners. The Giants of Cancer Care® award is particularly meaningful because the winners know their efforts have generated interest and respect from other cancer care professionals around the world.
OncLive® began the Giants of Cancer Care® program in 2013 to honor clinicians and investigators who have contributed to advancements in the understanding of cancer and the treatment of patients. Recipients must possess selflessness, compassion for patients, and a desire to understand and develop life-changing anticancer treatments.
“I am deeply moved by this nomination,” said Dr. Piccart, a professor of oncology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and director of the Medicine Department at Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels, Belgium. “I think it means that my peers, my colleagues, value my research efforts over the past 20 years.” Mike Hennessy Jr, president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences™, parent company of OncLive®, called the Giants “oncology legends” and praised honorees for their tireless efforts on behalf of patients and their families.“
Now in our eighth year of issuing the Giants of Cancer Care® awards, the program has grown bigger and better than we ever expected,” Hennessy said. “This year’s winners represent a group of remarkably talented scientists and physicians. The impact they’ve had on cancer research and treatment is truly beyond measure, and we are honored to call them Giants of Cancer Care®.”
Breast Cancer
Martine J. Piccart, MD, PhD
Université Libre de Bruxelles/Jules Bordet Institute
Dr. Piccart is a professor of oncology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and director of medicine at the Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels, Belgium.
She is the principal or coprincipal investigator for several major clinical trials, including HERA, MINDACT, and ALTTO. She is currently leading AURORA, a trial evaluating precise molecular analyses of primary and metastatic breast cancer tumor samples to better understand the evolution of metastasis and the mechanisms of drug resistance.
A leader in research collaboration, Dr. Piccart is cofounder and chair of the Breast International Group (BIG), which unites over 55 academic research groups. BIG is conducting over 25 clinical trials and developing numerous research programs. Dr Piccart also helped to establish the translational cancer research-based organization TRANSBIG.
Dr. Piccart has won the Léopold Griffuel Award for Translational and Clinical Research from the French ARC Foundation for Cancer Research (2018), the KNAW Bob Pinedo Award (2018), the William L. McGuire Award and Lectureship (2009), the St Gallen International Breast Cancer Award (2017), the Umberto Veronesi Award for the Future Fight Against Cancer (2012), the David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award (2013), and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation Jill Rose Award for outstanding research excellence (2009).
Cancer Diagnostics
Laura J. van ’t Veer, PhD
University of California San Francisco (UCSF)/Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. van ’t Veer is credited with inventing MammaPrint, a genomic test for women with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative, early-stage breast cancer that analyzes the activity of 70 genes to determine a patient’s 10-year risk for recurrence and/or metastasis.
She chairs the biomolecular committee of the I-SPY 2 trial and is serving as principal investigator of the Athena Breast Health Network at UCSF, a 150,000-women cohort study evaluating new paradigms to enhance breast health. She also is a principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health Big Data to Knowledge Center on Genomics, facilitating worldwide standardization for sharing annotated genomics data.
At UCSF, Dr. van ’t Veer serves as a professor of laboratory medicine and as director of applied genomics at Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. She also holds the Angela and Shu Kai Chan Endowed Chair in Cancer Research.
During her career, she has won the European Cancer Organisation Clinical Research Award (2017), the European Inventor Award (2015), the inaugural Harry and Edith Gladstein Award from the Indiana University School of Medicine (2009), the European Society for Medical Oncology Lifetime Achievement Award for Translational Research in Breast Cancer (2007), the Van der Schueren Award and Lecture for European Breast Cancer Research (2006), and the International Agency for Research on Cancer Medal of Honor (2005).
Community Outreach/Cancer Policy
Clifford A. Hudis, MD
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
Dr. Hudis has served as ASCO CEO since 2016. He is also executive vice chair of the ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation and chair of the Board of Governors for ASCO’s CancerLinQ data analytics initiative. Before joining ASCO full time, he served as president during the organization’s 50th anniversary year (2013-2014).
Under his leadership, ASCO has developed initiatives involving new educational offerings, scientific research, and emerging technologies that are helping to shape evidence-based health policy.
From 1998 to 2016, Dr. Hudis served as chief of the Breast Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he led studies that integrated hematopoietic growth factors, taxanes, and targeted agents into the breast cancer treatment paradigm.
He specifically helped translate the model developed by Larry Norton, MD, a 2016 Giants of Cancer Care® award winner, and Richard Simon, DSc, into dose-dense chemotherapy as an adjuvant therapy, which became the standard of care for patients with curable breast cancer.
During his career, Dr. Hudis has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from his alma mater, Drexel University (2018), and the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition Vivian and Meyer P. Potamkin Foundation Prize (2017). He was also named to the Winship 80 list of influential oncology leaders in celebration of the founding of the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Education
Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO
University of California San Francisco (UCSF)/Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Rugo has advanced breast cancer care through her work as a clinical research leader and as a noted lecturer at conferences throughout the world. At UCFS, she leads the Breast Forum, a discussion platform for patients, families, and caregivers.
As an investigator, Dr. Rugo was instrumental in the EMBRACA and ABRAZO studies into the efficacy of talazoparib (Talzenna), a PARP inhibitor that the FDA approved in 2018 for patients with HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast with germline BRCA mutations.
She was a key investigator in the IMpassion130 trial, which led to the FDA approval of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) in triple-negative breast cancer. She leads the ongoing TROPICS-02 trial into sacituzumab govitecan and has played crucial roles in dozens of clinical trials including ASCENT, KEYNOTE 355, I-SPY 2, PALOMA 2, and SOLAR1.
Dr. Rugo’s work has resulted in regulatory approvals for scalp-cooling technology to reduce chemotherapy-induced alopecia and a steroid mouthwash to relieve stomatitis from targeted therapy.
Dr. Rugo is director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education and a professor of medicine at Helen Diller, and co-chair of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium Triple Negative Working Group.
She has been honored by the Friends of the Breast Care Center (2006) and the CancerCare National Organization (2010), and won a PRIMO Women in Oncology Award in 2019.
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Margaret A. Tempero, MD
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)/Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Tempero is a pioneering investigator into novel treatments for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, particularly in the use of antibody-based therapies and the fixed-dose rate concept for gemcitabine.
Her research helped establish the rationale for using serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 as a surrogate marker for survival in clinical trials. Her group currently is working on assessing molecular subtypes in pancreatic cancer.
While on the faculty at the University of Nebraska in the 1990s, Dr. Tempero directed the first Gastrointestinal Cancer SPORE dedicated to pancreatic cancer. She organized the first pancreas cancer think tank in 1999 and helped lead the National Cancer Institute’s Pancreatic Cancer Progress Review Group in 2000. She also has chaired the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines Panel on Pancreatic Cancer since 2000.
Throughout her career, Dr. Tempero has held a variety of academic and professional leadership posts. She is the current director of the UCSF Pancreas Center and the Rombauer Family Distinguished Professor in Pancreas Cancer Clinical and Translational Science at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Previously, she was the center’s founding deputy director and UCSF’s chief of the Division of Medical Oncology.
Dr. Tempero served as president of American Society of Clinical Oncology (2004) and as a member of the FDA’s Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee (2007-2011).
Genetics/Prevention
Olufunmilayo Falusi Olopade, MD
University of Chicago
Dr. Olopade is an expert in cancer risk assessment whose research findings have elucidated molecular diversity in patients with breast cancer. She demonstrated that women of African descent are significantly more likely to have estrogen receptor–negative breast cancer, which develops at a younger age. Her findings also showed that this patient population requires testing and genetic screening at a younger age and more often than white women.
In 2005, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded Dr. Olopade with a “genius grant” for her work on translating findings on the molecular genetics of breast cancer in African and African American women into innovative clinical practices.
She has also won the Mendel Medal (2017), American Society of Clinical Oncology Humanitarian Award (2017), Access Community Health Network’s Heroes in Healthcare Award (2005), the Phenomenal Woman Award (2003), the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award (2000), and the James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award (1992).
Dr. Olopade is the director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and Global Health, the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics, and associate dean for Global Health at the University of Chicago. She is also the founder of the Comprehensive Cancer Risk and Prevention Clinic at the University of Chicago and has served as the clinic’s director for nearly 30 years.
Genitourinary Cancer
Dean F. Bajorin, MD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK)
Dr. Bajorin leads a long-standing research program at MSK aimed at the development of new treatment approaches for bladder and testicular cancers.
His work in testicular cancer has been focused on reducing the adverse effects of chemotherapy and on exploring biological characteristics of tumors. In urothelial carcinoma, Dr. Bajorin was a key investigator into the use of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in the pivotal KEYNOTE-045 and KEYNOTE-052 trials. The findings led to first- and second-line indications in the malignancy.
A medical oncologist, Dr. Bajorin holds the Frederick R. Adler Senior Faculty Chair at MSK and serves as a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is also the coprincipal investigator for MSK’s Bladder Cancer SPORE.
Since 1994, Dr. Bajorin has served as director of the Medical Oncology/Hematology Fellowship Training Program. Starting in 1999, he has overseen the clinical research curriculum program for training investigators.
Dr. Bajorin formerly cochaired the National Cancer Institute’s Bladder Cancer Task Force and has twice served as chair of the Genitourinary Scientific Committee for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
In 2011, Dr. Bajorin received ASCO’s Statesman Award, which recognizes members for extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment.
Gynecologic Malignancies
Robert L. Coleman, MD
The US Oncology Network
Dr. Coleman has been a leader in clinical research, particularly in the field of gynecologic oncology, for the past 25 years. He has published extensively, authoring more than 600 articles and book chapters on a range of topics including novel therapies and surgical strategies for ovarian cancer.
He recently led the phase 3 ARIEL3 trial, which evaluated rucaparib (Rubraca) as maintenance therapy in patients with recurrent platinum-sensitive epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. The FDA approved the PARP inhibitor for that patient population in April 2018 based on findings from the trial.
Dr. Coleman joined US Oncology Research as chief scientific officer in March 2020. He previously served as the Ann Rife Cox Chair in Gynecology and a professor in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), as well as executive director of the MDACC’s Cancer Network Research Program where he developed research programs in community hospital systems. He was also a coproject leader of the MDACC Ovarian Cancer SPORE and Uterine Cancer SPORE.
Dr. Coleman won the Rosalind Franklin Excellence in Ovarian Cancer Research Award (2018). He is a past president of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (2015) and the current president of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society. He is a codirector for GOG Partners and sits on the board of directors for the GOG Foundation.
Leukemia
Susan M. O’Brien, MD
University of California, Irvine (UCI) Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. O’Brien is an internationally recognized leader in the research of treatments for both chronic and acute leukemias and an expert on several important therapies that are presently used as the standard of care for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Her research background includes serving as the principal investigator for more than 40 funded clinical protocols. She has authored more than 900 articles in peer-reviewed journals and numerous book chapters and abstracts. She also has served as chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines panel on chronic myeloid leukemia.
Dr. O’Brien led the initial clinical research into ibrutinib (Imbruvica), idelalisib (Zydelig), duvelisib (Copiktra), and acalabrutinib (Calquence) for patients with CLL and continues to investigate Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibition in CLL and other leukemias.
In 2015, Dr. O’Brien joined UCI after serving as the Ashbel Smith Professor in the Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. At UCI, she is associate director for clinical science for the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and medical director of the Sue and Ralph Stern Center for Clinical Trials and Research. She also is a professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the UC Irvine School of Medicine.
Lung Cancer
Tony S. K. Mok, MD
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dr. Mok is a pioneering investigator in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who has helped shape the paradigm for molecularly targeted therapies and immunotherapy.
In 2009, Dr. Mok published the results of the landmark IPASS study, which demonstrated for the first time that an EGFR inhibitor, gefitinib (Iressa), was superior to chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with NSCLC, particularly those with EGFR mutations.
In the AURA3 trial, Dr. Mok and colleagues showed that patients with NSCLC who develop a T790M resistance mutation after receiving EGFR-targeted therapy can be treated with osimertinib (Tagrisso). The New England Journal of Medicine chose the article detailing the findings as 1 of its 10 most notable articles of 2017.
Dr. Mok also has helped define the management of ALK-positive NSCLC, notably through the PROFILE 1014 trial, which demonstrated that crizotinib (Xalkori) was superior to chemotherapy for previously untreated patients with an ALK mutation. In the immunotherapy arena, he led the KEYNOTE-042 study, establishing the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) as monotherapy for patients with PD-L1–positive tumors.
Dr. Mok is the Li Shu Fan Professor of the Department of Clinical Oncology and chair of Clinical Oncology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has received numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Society for Medical Oncology (2018).
Lymphoma
George P. Canellos, MD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI)/Harvard Medical School
Dr. Canellos is a longtime leader in the field of lymphoma and research. He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Vincent T. DeVita Jr, MD, the 2013 Giants of Cancer Care® award winner in this category. The pair developed the C-MOPP regimen (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, prednisone) for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and the CVP regimen (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone) to treat indolent forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Dr. Canellos was president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) from 1993 to 1994, and he also formerly served as chair of the Lymphoma Committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B research cooperative.
He is a senior physician at DFCI and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also holds the inaugural William Rosenberg Professor of Medicine (emeritus) position at Harvard Medical School. He previously served as DFCI’s first chief of medical oncology (1975-1995).
DFCI has named 2 awards after Dr. Canellos, and he has received many other honors during his career. These include the Karl Musshof Award from the 7th International Hodgkin Lymphoma Symposium (2007), ASCO’s Statesman Award (2007), the Ellis Island Foundation Medal of Honor (2004), and the Key to the Cure Award from the Cure for Lymphoma Foundation (1999). He was named an ASCO Oncology Luminary in 2016.
Melanoma
Keith T. Flaherty, MD Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center/Harvard Medical School
A pioneer in developing molecularly targeted therapies for patients with melanoma, Dr. Flaherty led early trials into the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) and the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist).
Dr. Flaherty helped establish the concept of dual MAPK pathway targeting by combining BRAF and MEK inhibitors, which has improved outcomes compared with single-agent BRAF inhibitors.
He also has been a leader in identifying mechanisms of de novo and acquired resistance to BRAF inhibitor therapy and evaluating next-generation inhibitors.
He served as a key investigator for the phase 3 COMBI-d trial, which evaluated the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus trametinib, and for the COLUMBUS trial, which tested encorafenib (Braftovi), a BRAF inhibitor, plus binimetinib (Mektovi), a MEK inhibitor. The FDA has approved both combinations in melanoma settings.
He was the founding director of the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies; director of clinical research at Massachusetts General Hospital; the Richard Saltonstall Endowed Chair in Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center; and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Flaherty is immediate past president of the Society for Melanoma Research. The society honored him with a Lifetime Achievement award in 2019.
Myeloma
Sagar Lonial, MD
Emory University/Winship Cancer Institute
Dr. Lonial, a leading authority in multiple myeloma, has been instrumental in developing monoclonal antibodies and novel combinations, and in helping to shape optimal treatment practices.
His research helped pave the way for FDA approvals for 2 monoclonal antibodies in November 2015: daratumumab (Darzalex), which targets CD38, and elotuzumab (Empliciti), which is directed at the SLAMF7 protein.
Dr. Lonial served as a key investigator for the SIRIUS trial, which established a role for daratumumab monotherapy in heavily pretreated patients, and for the ELOQUENT-2 trial, which explored elotuzumab in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus dexamethasone in patients with progressive disease after prior therapy.
Dr. Lonial, a leading authority in multiple myeloma, has been instrumental in developing monoclonal antibodies and novel combinations, and in helping to shape optimal treatment practices.
His research helped pave the way for FDA approvals for 2 monoclonal antibodies in November 2015: daratumumab (Darzalex), which targets CD38, and elotuzumab (Empliciti), which is directed at the SLAMF7 protein.
Dr. Lonial served as a key investigator for the SIRIUS trial, which established a role for daratumumab monotherapy in heavily pretreated patients, and for the ELOQUENT-2 trial, which explored elotuzumab in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus dexamethasone in patients with progressive disease after prior therapy.
Supportive, Palliative, and/or Geriatric Care
Richard J. Gralla, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Jacobi Medical Center
Dr. Gralla has been a leading investigator into the mechanisms of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and novel therapies to help prevent and alleviate symptoms. Starting in the 1980s, his research findings have helped define the role of serotonin receptor and neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists in suppressing emesis. These include studies of ondansetron (Zofran) and aprepitant (Emend).
He is the author of more than 200 scientific publications and in 2007, Dr. Gralla and colleagues launched the peer-reviewed journal, Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care.
Active in numerous professional organizations, Dr. Gralla has served on American Society of Clinical Oncology program and education committees, including as cochair of the antiemetics guidelines panel. He was president of the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (2000-2004).
Dr. Gralla is a professor in the Department of Medicine at the Jacobi Medical Center of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and director of oncology research for the North Bronx Healthcare Network. He formerly served as the director of Ochsner Cancer Institute (1989-2000) and the director of clinical research at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (2000-2002).
He has received the Distinguished Service Award from the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (2006) and was honored as CancerCare Physician of the Year (2005).
Translational Science
Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Gillison has conducted seminal research in the identification and therapeutic implications of human papillomavirus (HPV) in patients with head and neck cancer. She is credited as the first investigator to establish a connection between HPV and oral cancer.
In 2000, Dr. Gillison and colleagues published findings in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute demonstrating a link between HPV-16 and oropharyngeal cancers. She was the senior investigator on a 2007 New England Journal of Medicine study showing that HPV 16 infection results in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in both men and women, and that having multiple oral sex partners increases the risk for developing these cancers. The following year, Dr. Gillison and colleagues described distinct risk factor profiles for HPV16–positive and HPV16–negative HNSCCs.
As a result of her work, the National Cancer Institute has recommended that clinical trials in HNSCC stratify tumors by HPV status.
Dr. Gillison is a professor of medicine in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
She has been honored by the American Association for Cancer Research with the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award (2012). She was elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine in 2016.