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Dr. Coleman Receives Award from Lymphoma Organization
March 2001, New York
Dr.
Morton Coleman, a member of the medical advisory board of the Cancer
Research & Treatment Fund, was honored recently by another leading cancer
organization for "his tireless efforts in treating patients and translating
laboratory research into clinical practice." He was cited by the Cure for
Lymphoma Foundation, which presented him with its Together Award at its
annual benefit on November 20.
As Chairman of the CFL's Educational Writing Review Committee, Dr. Coleman
played a central role in creating the only comprehensive information guides
for lymphoma patients, "Understanding Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Understanding
Hodgkin's Disease." In addition, under his aegis the Lymphoma Foundation
launched the Medical Affiliates Board, a nationwide network of oncologists
which seeks to increase awareness of innovative treatments and clinical
trials in lymphoma and to disseminate educational materials for health-care
professionals and patients. Dr. Coleman serves as chairman of the Medical
Affiliates Board as well as a member of the CFL's Board of Directors.
Dr. Coleman is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of
Cornell University, where he heads the Center for Lymphoma and Myeloma, a
unit that draws on the expertise of some 30 physicians in such varied fields
as pathology, immunology, hematology, clinical oncology, transplantation
biology, and nuclear medicine. The center is pioneering in the use of
monoclonal antibodies, one of an array of biological tools that attack cancer
cells with a precision never before achieved in the cancer treatment. Linking
monoclonal antibodies to radioactive substances, Dr. Coleman and his
associates have the largest radioimmunotherapy program in the country against
lymphoma, and they expect soon to be the first in the world to use antibody
combinations against lymphoma.
The success of the four-year-old center has led Dr. Coleman to propose that
an analogous unit be established at Cornell to focus on leukemia and other
myeloproliferative disorders ñ that is, diseases caused by uncontrolled
proliferation of blood-forming cells in the bone marrow. The Cancer Research
& Treatment Fund is considering funding such a center, which would work for
improved treatment through integrated research projects involving clinical
medicine and basic science.
A frequent collaborator with CR&T's medical director, Dr. Richard Silver,
with whom he has co-authored more than 70 research articles, Dr. Coleman is
known worldwide for his contributions to the treatment of blood cancers. For
example, with Dr. Silver and others, he developed drug combinations for
Hodgkins' lymphoma that were highly effective against the disease while
avoiding the punishing side effects of standard chemotherapy, such as sterility.
Although they have specialized in blood cancers, Drs. Coleman and Silver view
the treatment of these disorders as highly relevant to the treatment of the
solid tumors that characterize the most common cancers, such as those of the
lung, breast, colon, and prostate. In times past, when the treatment of
cancer was dominated by surgery, blood malignancies were a prime exception,
calling forth therapies that were principally biological and pharmacological.
Today it is precisely this approach, combining biology and pharmacology, that
seems to offer the greatest promise for advances against all varieties of
cancer.
Dr. Coleman draws patients from around the world, and he has been asked to
consult on cases in such far-flung places as Thailand, Belgium, India, and
the Middle East. His clinical practice at Cornell is comprised of people from
all walks of life, and he laughingly refers to his office as the United
Nations.
A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Dr. Coleman received his bachelor's degree in
1959 from Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree four years later
from the Medical College of Virginia. He came to Cornell as an assistant
resident in medicine in 1967 and has remained ever since. He has led and been
a member of many medical and scientific organizations, among them the Fund
for Blood and Cancer Research, which he has chaired since 1975, and the New
York Cancer Society, which he served as president in 1998 and 1999.
For additional information, please contact:
Cancer Research & Treatment Fund
Phone: 212-288-6604
Fax: 212-288-7704 or 212-746-8246
e-mail: director@crt.org
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