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Craig B. Thompson, MD, Appointed Director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
volume 5 | issue 10
october 2006Page 1259
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Craig B. Thompson, MD, has been named the
new Director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
and Associate Vice President for Cancer Services of the University of
Pennsylvania Health System.
The Abramson Cancer is Center is one of only 39 NCI-designated Comprehensive
Cancer Centers in the United States and one of the top five in National Cancer
Institute funding. Last fiscal year, over 50,000 outpatient visits, 3400
inpatient admissions, 24,000 chemotherapy treatments, and more than 65,000
radiation treatments came through the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC). In his new
position, Thompson will direct all clinical divisions of the ACC which include:
the Rena Rowan Breast Center; the Melanoma and Pigmented Lesion Program; the
Head and Neck Cancer Program; Neuro-Oncology; Urologic Oncology; Surgical
Oncology; Radiation Oncology; Gynecologic Oncology; Gastrointestinal cancer;
and hematologic cancers such as Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma.
As Director, Thompson will oversee 300 active cancer researchers and 299 full-
time Penn physicians and faculty from eight Schools and 41 Departments across
the University involved in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. He will
be responsible for $180 million in grant funding for cancer research and
training, including $83.4 million in NCI funding.
His additional clinical duties will include heading the PENN Medicine Cancer
Steering Committee and the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Network. The
Abramson Cancer Center is the cornerstone of the Penn Cancer Network, which is
the group of community hospitals throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey
collaborating with the ACC to provide subspecialty care not usually available
at most community hospitals, as well as the vast research and technological
resources for patient care throughout the region.
"Dr. Thompson was selected for this position because of his reputation for
excellence as a pioneer in cancer research, an exceptional educator, and above
all, his career-long dedication to finding new approaches to treating and
curing cancer," says Arthur H. Rubenstein, MBBCH, Executive Vice President of
the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and Dean of the School of
Medicine.
Thompson joined Penn in 1999 as a Professor of Medicine, Scientific Director of
The Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute (the basic
science branch of Penn's Cancer Center), and Penn's first Chair of the
Department of Cancer Biology. He will continue to serve in both of these
positions in addition to his new appointment.
"This is a very exciting time for Penn with the construction of a proton
therapy treatment facility and the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, which
is to house all prevention, diagnostic, treatment, and support cancer services
in a single patient-centered environment," says Ralph W. Muller, Chief
Executive Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology, Dr. Thompson has
also served as Deputy Director of the Abramson Cancer Center since 1999. Last
year, he was selected as a member of the prestigious National Academy of
Sciences, an honor awarded to only four cancer scientists in 2005.
After an undergraduate career at Dartmouth College and graduate training at
Dartmouth Medical School, Dr. Thompson received his MD degree from the
University of Pennsylvania in 1977. He received clinical training in Internal
Medicine at Harvard University and in Medical Oncology at the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Institute at the University of Washington. From there, Dr.
Thompson was a physician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD,
until 1983, and an assistant professor of medicine at the Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences, also in Bethesda, from 1982 to 1987. In
1987, Dr. Thompson joined the faculty of the University of Michigan as an
Assistant Professor in Medicine and an Associate Investigator in the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute. In 1993, he moved to the University of Chicago and
was promoted to Professor of Medicine, Investigator in the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute, and Director of the Gwen Knapp Center for Lupus and
Immunology Research.
Dr. Thompson currently serves as Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Vice Chairman of the GM Cancer Research Prize
Committee, a member of the Lasker Prize Jury, and as an Associate Editor of
Cell, Science, Immunity, and Cancer Cell . In the past, Dr. Thompson has served
as the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Damon Runyon/Walter
Winchell Cancer Foundation, Chairman of the Board of Scientific Counselors of
the National Cancer Institute, and a member of the Experimental Immunology
Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Thompson is the holder
of a number of patents related to immunotherapy and apoptosis, and is a founder
of two biotechnology companies. In addition to the National Academy of
Sciences, Dr. Thompson is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Society for Clinical
Investigation, and the American Association of Physicians.
Thompson resides on the Main Line with his wife Tullia Lindsten, MD, PhD.
Together they have two children.
PENN Medicine is a $2.7 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of
medical education, biomedical research, and high-quality patient care. PENN
Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded
in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of
Pennsylvania Health System.
Penn's School of Medicine is ranked #2 in the nation for receipt of NIH
research funds; and ranked #4 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's most
recent ranking of top research-oriented medical schools. Supporting 1,400
fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized
worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of
physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System includes three hospitals [Hospital
of the University of Pennsylvania, which is consistently ranked one of the
nation's few "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Pennsylvania
Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center]; a
faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty
satellite facilities; and home care and hospice.
About the Abramson Cancer Center: The Abramson Cancer Center of the University
of Pennsylvania was established in 1973 as a center of excellence in cancer
research, patient care, education and outreach. Today, the Abramson Cancer
Center ranks as one of the nation's best in cancer care, according to U.S. News
and World Report, and is one of the top five in National Cancer Institute (NCI)
funding. It is one of only 39 NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in
the United States. Home to one of the largest clinical and research programs in
the world, the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania has 300
active cancer researchers and 299 Penn physicians involved in cancer
prevention, diagnosis and treatment. More information about the Abramson Cancer
Center is available at: www.pennhealth.com/cancer.
This is an open-access article
Download PDF If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.