Dennis Joseph Slamon (born August 6, 1948), is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''� ...

and chief of the division of Hematology-Oncology at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. He is best known for his work identifying the

HER2/neu Receptor tyrosine-protein kinase erbB-2 is a protein that normally resides in the membranes of cells and is encoded by the ''ERBB2'' gene. ERBB is abbreviated from erythroblastic oncogene B, a gene originally isolated from the avian genome. The ...

oncogene An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. In tumor cells, these genes are often mutated, or expressed at high levels.

that is amplified in 25–33% of breast cancer patients and the resulting treatment

trastuzumab Trastuzumab, sold under the brand name Herceptin among others, is a monoclonal antibody used to treat breast cancer and stomach cancer. It is specifically used for cancer that is HER2 receptor positive. It may be used by itself or together ...

. He currently serves as director of Clinical/Translational Research at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and as director of the Revlon/UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program at JCCC. He is a professor of medicine, chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and executive vice chair for research for UCLA's Department of Medicine. Slamon also serves as director of the medical advisory board for the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, a fund-raising organization that promotes advances in

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the Colon (anatomy), colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include Lower gastrointestinal ...

Early life and education

Slamon was born to parents of

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

descent, his father immigrated from Syria at age 8, and later worked as a

coal miner Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...

in West Virginia. He attended

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania, United States. The college traces its origin to three Presbyterian m ...

for its

pre-med Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med ...

program. A 1975 honors graduate of the

Pritzker School of Medicine The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine is the M.D.-granting unit under the Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago. It is located on the university's main campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago and mat ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, Slamon earned his Ph.D. in cell biology that same year. He completed his internship and residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, becoming chief resident in 1978. One year later, he became a fellow in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UCLA, Los Angeles.

Career

In 1986 Axel Ullrich, a German scientist working at

Genentech Genentech, Inc. is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It operates as an independent subsidiary of holding company Roche. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent cent ...

, first discovered the Her-2 protein and gave a conference about it in which Slamon was present. Afterwards Slamon proposed to work together, since he suspected that a mutation in Her-2 might cause cancer, eventually they found a kind of aggressive breast cancer with a mutation in the gene responsible for the Her-2 protein and started working on producing an antibody to block that protein, hoping to create a new breast cancer treatment; however Genentech had serious administrative conflicts regarding the direction of their research at the time and they refused to fund their research, with Ullrich leaving the company. Despite not working at Genentech, Slamon kept insisting, which led to him being known and disliked among the staff, but eventually he convinced a group of Genentech scientists and got funds to do a small study, which proved the efficacy of the Her-2 antibody in fighting breast cancer which convinced Genentech to launch a full scale research and development effort, which concluded in the creating of new more effective breast cancer treatments. For 12 years, Dr. Slamon and his colleagues conducted the laboratory and clinical research that led to the development of the new breast cancer drug Herceptin, which targets a specific genetic alteration found in about 25 percent of breast cancer patients. To acknowledge Slamon's accomplishments, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

appointed Slamon to the three-member President's Cancer Panel in June 2000. Slamon and his colleagues set out to find ways to target their treatments. They took breast cancer cells and mimicked what was happening in their patients, looking at genetic alterations in the genes that regulate growth. One of them was a gene called HER-2, human epidermal growth factor receptor No. 2. The researchers saw that women who had the HER-2 alteration weren't doing as well because they had a more aggressive tumor. That made it a logical target. Slamon's group found that when they added an antibody to the receptor that the gene made when it mutated, the tumor growth rate dropped dramatically. The process of identifying the target and validating it in the laboratory worked not just for breast cancer, but for other major malignancies, he said. The UCLA researchers developed models for several cancers, seeing which antibodies worked and which didn't.

Popular culture

His life and research was the template for the plot of the

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

'' Living Proof'' (2008), starring

Harry Connick, Jr. Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and former television host. As of 2019, he has sold over 30 million records worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 best-selling ma ...

Slamon's cancer research is discussed in the second episode of '' Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies''.

Honors and awards

*2002 Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine *2007

Gairdner Foundation International Award The Canada Gairdner International Award is given annually by the Gairdner Foundation at a special dinner to five individuals for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science. Receipt of the Gairdner is traditionally considered a ...

*2017

Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction The Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction was established by Susan G. Komen for the Cure in 1992 to recognize leading scientists for their significant work in advancing research concepts or clinical application in the fields of breast can ...

*2019 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award *2019

Sjöberg Prize The Sjöberg Prize is an award aimed at individuals or research groups that have made significant contributions to cancer research. The prize, which is international, is planned to be awarded annually. It consists of a 100,000 US dollars of free di ...

*2024 Szent-Györgyi PrizeNational Foundation for Cancer Research
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References

External links

Dr. Dennis Slamon: The Search for a Cure for Breast Cancer (Interview)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slamon, Dennis Living people American health activists People from New Castle, Pennsylvania American people of Syrian descent Washington & Jefferson College alumni Pritzker School of Medicine alumni American cancer researchers University of California, Los Angeles faculty 1948 births Activists from California Fellows of the AACR Academy