UCLA Center Doctor Named to President’s Cancer Panel

WESTWOOD —  A physician who helped develop a revolutionary breast cancer drug has been named to the President’s Cancer Panel.

Dr. Dennis Slamon, who directs the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center, was named to the panel, which is appointed by and reports directly to President Clinton.

“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.

After 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 as many as 60,000 women, or 30% of those with breast cancer.

He hopes to launch a nationwide clinical trial to study how Herceptin might help women with early-stage breast cancer.

Other panel members are Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, and Dr. Harold Freeman, who heads North General Hospital in New York City.