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Accomplished melanoma researcher to deliver 20th annual Waddell Award Lectures on March 27 at the Arizona Cancer Center
SEE STREAMING VIDEO OF THIS EVENT | CLICK HERE
Dr. Kirkwood is being recognized for his pioneering work in advancing melanoma research, which has led to the first medical treatment capable of preventing melanoma relapse and death. As chair of the Biologics and Melanoma Committees of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, Dr. Kirkwood is head of several highly promising projects, including new clinical trials of cancer vaccines and biological response modifiers aimed to excite the body’s immune system into attacking melanoma malignancies.
Dr. Kirkwood’s scientific lecture will focus on his work on adjuvant therapies that have improved the prognosis for patients at high risk for melanoma recurrence. Adjuvant treatments act by modifying another treatment or therapy, much like a chemical catalyst, but have little to no effect when used alone. One such approach is treatment with type 1 interferons, complex proteins produced by almost every cell of the body in response to infection and the only known biological agent to treat melanoma tumors.
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 62,480 new melanomas will be diagnosed and approximately 8,240 people will die of melanoma in the U.S. during 2008. The only proven cure for melanoma is surgical removal, but cancer recurrence is common even after surgery. Dr. Kirkwood’s adjuvant therapy significantly decreases recurrence in high-risk patients.
Dr. Kirkwood is known worldwide for his innovative research and expertise and can be credited with moving cancer research forward. His many awards include the Melanoma Research Foundation's Wings of Hope Award and the European Society of Cytokine Research Award for Interferon and Cytokine Research, both received in 2005. His awards reflect the countless lives of cancer patients and families that he has touched over the years.
Dr. Kirkwood earned his MD degree from Yale University in 1973 and completed postgraduate work at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Harvard University. His undergraduate education is from Oberlin College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. He was an assistant professor of medicine at Yale University from 1978 to 1983 and was an attending physician at Yale University School of Medicine from 1978 to 1986. Dr. Kirkwood joined the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as professor and chief of the Division of Medical Oncology in 1986.
The Donald Ware Waddell Award was established in 1988 by a gift from Eleanor Waddell Libby and the Waddell Foundation in memory of her father, Donald Ware Waddell, a Phoenix rancher.
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