Clinton Names Doctor to President’s Cancer Panel
A Woodland Hills physician who helped develop a revolutionary breast cancer drug has been named by President Clinton to the President’s Cancer Panel.
The panel, which reports directly to Clinton, has the potential to change national cancer research policy, said Dr. Dennis Slamon, who directs the Revlon / UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center.
“Cancer researchers still face many scientific challenges, and the President’s Cancer Panel should play a role in improving public education about the disease and in helping to increase support for the basic and clinical research advances that are so vital in the war against cancer,” Slamon, 51, said in a statement.
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Following 12 years of research, Slamon established the relationship between a gene called HER-2/neu and a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer. His work led to the development of Herceptin, a drug that can help up to 60,000 women or 30% of those who develop breast cancer.
He is hoping to launch a nationwide clinical trial to study how Herceptin might help women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.
Other panel members are Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, and Dr. Harold Freeman, who heads up North General Hospital in New York City.
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