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PHILADELPHIA — The American Association for Cancer Research is proud to recognize one of its prestigious leaders, William S. Dalton, M.D., Ph.D., for receiving the 2010 Leadership in Personalized Medicine Award from the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC). Dalton, who accepted the honor yesterday at the Harvard Personalized Conference in Boston, has been an AACR member for more than 20 years and chairs the association’s Science Policy and Legislative Affairs Committee.
Dalton, who also serves as the president/chief executive director and center director at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., was instrumental in establishing an approach to personalized cancer care that began at the cancer center almost eight years ago. During his speech upon accepting the award, he described the initiative, called Total Cancer Care, and said the goal is, in essence, “to stop focusing on treating the cancer, and instead focus on caring for the patient.”
“By focusing on solutions to individual needs, we believe we will reduce death and suffering due to cancer,” Dalton pointed out.
He went on to explain that this approach requires strategic partnerships to:
• create a system to identify the needs of individual patients;
• identify markers that would predict needs and risks so that interventions could become preemptive;
• identify molecular signatures for patients who are not likely to respond to the standard of care;
• utilize clinical characteristics and molecular profiling techniques to match the right patient, to the right treatment, at the right time, and the right place; and,
• raise the standard of care for all patients by integrating new technologies in an evidenced-based approach to maximize benefits and reduce costs.
“Dr. Dalton’s cutting-edge efforts give true meaning to the term personalized medicine,” said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), chief executive officer of the AACR. “He plays such a crucial leadership role in cancer research on many levels, and he has been integral to its forward momentum. We congratulate him on receiving this important award.”
Dalton received his doctoral degree in toxicology and medical life sciences and his medical degree from Indiana University. He completed his internship in internal medicine at Indiana University, his residency in medicine and his fellowships in oncology and clinical pharmacology at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology and is an expert in multiple myeloma.
The PMC Award recognizes an individual whose contributions in science, business and/or policy have helped advance the frontiers of personalized medicine.
The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world’s oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 32,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants, research fellowships and career development awards. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 18,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care. Including Cancer Discovery, the AACR publishes seven major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; and Cancer Prevention Research. AACR journals represented 20 percent of the market share of total citations in 2009. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors and their families, patient advocates, physicians and scientists.
Media Contact:
Rachael Cullins
(202) 898-0668
