November 16, 2009
Selecting the best treatment based on the unique features of a particular patient is the goal of personalizing cancer care, says Richard Schilsky, MD, this year’s recipient of the Award for Clinical Service from the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“We are moving into the frontier of personalized medicine and are treating patients not just by the site of their tumor but by the genetic composition of their disease and of their normal DNA,” Schilsky told the U.S. House of Representatives in March, “This enables us to determine which patients will benefit from a treatment, and just as importantly, which patients will not benefit from a treatment.”
The IPIT Award for Clinical Service annually honors a person who has made significant direct contributions to the advancement of individualized therapy in clinical practice. The award acknowledges Schilsky’s long-standing efforts to further the notion and practice of individualizing care for cancer.
“Dr. Schilsky has been directly responsible for shifting the discussion from ‘should we’ to ‘how do we’ pursue individualized cancer therapy,” says Howard McLeod, director of IPIT and Fred Eshelman Professor of Pharmacy at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
Schilsky is president of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists and section chief of hematology/oncology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. He will receive the award and present a seminar entitled “Personalized Cancer Care: Research, Policy, and Practice” on November 19, at 3:00 p.m. in the Joseph Pagano Conference Room in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus.
“As ASCO president last year, Dr Schilsky chose the emerging science of personalized cancer care based on pharmacogenetics as his flagship issue,” says Richard Goldberg, MD, chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the UNC School of Medicine and physician-in-chief of the new North Carolina Cancer Hospital. “His advocacy for practicing medicine based on individual patients rather than a generic approach has helped to move the field forward.”
Since 1995 Schilsky has served as chair of Cancer and Leukemia Group B, a cooperative group sponsored by the National Cancer Institute that conducts clinical trials in cancer treatment, biology, prevention, and health outcomes. His laboratory and clinical research have been continuously funded by the NCI since 1987. As the current president of ASCO, he champions the clinical-trials model to ensure that high quality, evidence-based practices for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer are available to each individual American citizen.
Watch the Award Presentation and Seminar
Richard M. Schilsky, MD
Schilsky earned his MD at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1975. Following a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital, he received training in medical oncology and clinical pharmacology at the National Cancer Institute from 1977 to 1981. He then served as assistant professor of medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine from 1981 to 1984 when he returned to the University of Chicago where he is presently professor of medicine (tenured). Schilsky previously served as director of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center from 1991 to 1999 and as associate dean for clinical research from 1999 to 2007.
As an international expert in gastrointestinal malignancies and cancer pharmacology, he has served on a number of peer-review and advisory committees for the NCI and previously served as chair of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee for the FDA.. Schilsky currently serves as chair of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors and as a member of the Clinical and Translational Research Advisory Committee. Schilsky has served as a member of the board of directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy
The institute was formed in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as a collaborative effort with the School of Medicine, Gillings School of Global Public Health, and the School of Nursing and with support from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how genetic variation among individuals contributes to differences in the way people respond to medicines.
Leadership in key areas of pharmacogenomic research is fostered by contiguous office and laboratory space that bolster collaboration and enable the development of comprehensive research investigations and treatment tools. IPIT also offers the services of core facilities in molecular genomics, cellular phenotyping and bioinformatics to add to the excellent core facilities already existing at UNC.
For more information, please visit: www.ipit.unc.edu.
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