"Dr. von Eschenbach brings enormous medical and administrative expertise and experience to this post," said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), chief executive officer of the AACR. "This background will be vitally important in his new challenging role of FDA commissioner."

In the cancer community, Dr. von Eschenbach, 64, is a well-recognized urologic surgeon who formerly directed the Genitourinary Cancer Center and the Prostate Cancer Research Program at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. von Eschenbach spent a quarter of a century there, moving from faculty member to department chair to executive vice president and chief academic officer.

Subsequently, Dr. von Eschenbach was named Director of the National Cancer Institute, the 12th person to assume this responsibility in the NCI's 67-year old history. During his tenure, he worked to strengthen collaborations between the NCI and the FDA, and to bring laboratory breakthroughs to the clinic as quickly as possible, maximizing patient benefits and minimizing risks. As part of this collaboration, the NCI and FDA through a joint agency task force agreed to share knowledge and resources to facilitate the development of new cancer drugs and speed their delivery to patients.

"Dr. von Eschenbach also has a special appreciation for translational cancer research, the process that bridges basic research with clinical research, with the goal of bringing new discoveries to the cancer patient," said Peter Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc., AACR president and director of the University of Southern California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Distinguished Professor of Urology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biolog
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Contact: Warren R. Froelich
froelich@aacr.org
215-440-9300
American Association for Cancer Research
15-Mar-2006