Radiation Oncology Expert Plans $1M
Gift to Improve Cancer Survivorship
The Wilmot Cancer Center is celebrating the upcoming creation of a cancer survivorship program to foster research and improve patient care. This program will be funded through a $1 million endowment from a planned gift that Philip Rubin, M.D., has included in his will. Initially, the program will be funded by gifts from grateful patients and friends of Rubin.
“We’ve reached the point with cancer treatments that more than 70 percent survive and we’re recognizing that we’ve moved from the cancer patient to cancer survivors for a large group of people. Now we have a population of about 10 million survivors out there, and they have health issues and needs that should be addressed,” says Rubin, an international expert and professor emeritus of Radiation Oncology. This translates into 750,000 additional cancer survivors each year.
Wilmot Cancer Center Director Richard I. Fisher, M.D., praised Rubin’s vision and commitment. “His leadership in the field of radiation oncology is unparalleled and his focus on improving survivorship is key to the future of clinical care and research.” Rubin hopes the program focuses on ways to improve treatments and minimize the lasting effects of radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery for people with cancer.
His 50-year career focused on studying radiation, dating back to the Manhattan Project, the World War II code name for the atomic bomb. Rochester scientists collected all the biologic data on radiation effects on the body during that time. Once the scientific data was declassified, Rubin analyzed it and published extensively on radiation tolerance, establishing the Medical Center as an international leader for studying late effects.
He helped develop the field of using radiation therapeutically, having served as the first director of the Department of Radiation Oncology Services at the National Cancer Institute. When he came to the Medical Center, he created the Department of Radiation Oncology and was chief and then chair from 1961-1995.
Rubin also founded and served as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, the premier journal in the field. Royalties from the journal are the basis of Rubin’s bequest, which allow him to give back to the Cancer Center and foster academic research that enables creativity among faculty. “We’ve built a strong reputation and expertise in late-effects of radiation,” Rubin says. “I’m pleased to say we’re ahead of the curve in many ways in terms of understanding what patients go through during treatment and after treatment.”
Paul Okunieff, M.D., chair of Radiation Oncology and Philip Rubin Professor of Radiation Oncology, is continuing Rubin’s research into the effects of radiation. He recently received a $21 million federal grant to investigate the effects of radiation in bioterrorism and is studying ways to detect levels of exposure if a “dirty bomb” attack were to occur. Louis Constine, M.D., professor of Radiation and Pediatric Oncology, will lay the groundwork to build the survivorship program with a professional conference of national and international leaders in May. “As doctors, not only do we celebrate surviving cancer, but we are passionate about trying to maximize the quality of life of the cancer survivor,” Constine says. “Before, we were satisfied to cure cancer. Now it’s incumbent upon us to understand the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy and how we can help patients tolerate and minimize them.”
