Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is pleased to announce Eileen M. O’Reilly, MD; Howard I. Scher, MD; and Deb Schrag, MD, MPH, have been elected to the 11th class of Giants of Cancer Care® for their contributions to gastrointestinal cancer care, genitourinary cancer care, and prevention and care delivery respectively. The mission of the Giants of Cancer Care® program is to recognize and celebrate pioneers, innovators, and future generations of leaders who have made remarkable achievements in oncology research and clinical practice.
Drs. O’Reilly, Scher, and Schrag are three of 12 inductees this year whose body of work was considered by a committee of more than 120 oncologists, clinicians, and researchers. They join eight MSK experts previously elected including Luis Diaz Jr., MD; Richard J. O’Reilly, MD; Dean F. Bajorin, MD; Larry Norton, MD; Robert J. Motzer, MD; Sir Murray F. Brennan GNZM, MD, FACS; the late Jimmie C. Holland, MD; and Charles L. Sawyers, MD.
“We are proud of our exceptional physicians joining the 2023 class of Giants of Cancer Care,” said Lisa M. DeAngelis, MD, Chief Physician Executive, MSK. “Each individual has pioneered research and clinical practice that has improved quality of life for countless patients experiencing cancer. Congratulations to Drs. O’Reilly, Scher, and Schrag on this well-deserved recognition by their peers.”
Dr. Eileen M. O’Reilly is the Winthrop Rockefeller Endowed Chair of Medical Oncology; the Co-Director of Medical Initiatives, David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research; and Section Head of Hepatopancreaticobilary & Neuroendocrine Cancers at MSK. Her research and clinical activities focus on treating pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancers including integrating molecular and genetic-based therapies into the treatment of pancreas cancer. Dr. O’Reilly is the Co-Chair of the NCI Alliance Co-Operative Group Gastrointestinal Cancers Committee and a member of the NCI Gastrointestinal Cancers Steering Committee.
Dr. Howard I. Scher is the founding Head of the Biomarker Development Program and the D. Wayne Calloway Chair in Urologic Oncology at MSK. His decades of leadership in decoding the biology of prostate cancer have led to improved diagnostic tests and treatment decision-making for patients around the world. He has served as the Chief of the Genitourinary Oncology Service at the Sidney Kimmel Center for Urologic and Prostate Cancers at MSK for 25 years. In this role, he has worked to foster synergy between scientific research and clinical care resulting in several practice-changing therapies and improved quality of life for patients with advanced prostate cancer.
Dr. Deb Schrag is the Chair of the Department of Medicine and the George J. Bosl Chair at MSK. She is a gastrointestinal oncologist with a focus on colorectal cancer. Dr. Schrag is an expert in health services research and cancer care delivery. Before her recruitment to MSK in 2021, she led the Division of Population Sciences at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Cancer Care Delivery Research Program at the Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center and was Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Schrag has worked on development, testing and deployment of novel approaches to delivery of cancer care and elimination of health disparities. At MSK, she is co-leading a research effort, under the umbrella of the NCI’s Cancer Moonshot, to establish best practices for telehealth-enabled cancer care.
The 2023 Giants of Cancer Care inductees will be honored at a formal ceremony in Chicago, Illinois later this year.
Contact:
Nick Gardner
[email protected]
