Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research Announces the Appointment of Dr. Theodore Lawrence to the Foundation’s Medical Advisory Board

Sidney Kimmel, Founder and Chairman of The Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research, has announced the appointment of Theodore Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D. to the Medical Advisory Board of the Kimmel Scholar Award program.

Theodore S. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D., Isadore Lampe Professor of Radiation Oncology, is the Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and a professor in the Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. Dr. Lawrence is the Chair of the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Councilors (Clinical and Epidemiology) and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is an editor of The Cancer Journal: Journal of the Principles and Practice of Oncology, associate editor for Seminars in Radiation Oncology, and editor-in-chief of Translational Oncology. Dr. Lawrence is also past president of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the largest oncology society in the world.

Dr. Lawrence joined the faculty of the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor in 1987, following a fellowship in medical oncology and a residency in radiation oncology at the National Cancer Institute. He received his research degree in cell biology from the Rockefeller University in New York, followed by his medical degree from Cornell University and an internal medicine residency at Stanford University. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1992 and to Professor in 1997. He became the Isadore Lampe Professor and chair of the department in 1999. He is the author of over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 20 book chapters. He is an editor, along with Drs. DeVita and Rosenberg, of the 8th edition of The Principles and Practice of Oncology.

In 1993 Sidney Kimmel established the Sidney Kimmel Foundation and the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research. Since that time, the Foundation has awarded more than $495 million to various philanthropic causes, primarily in the areas of cancer research, the performing arts and Jewish continuity. Through the Foundation, Mr. Kimmel has been particularly dedicated to the fight against cancer, funding leading research centers and promising young investigators. He has also been personally active in these efforts, chairing the national March on Washington, D.C. in 1998 to demand greater federal funding for cancer research.

The Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research is specifically dedicated to improving the understanding of cancer biology and to developing new methods for the prevention and treatment of cancer. The Kimmel Scholar Awards were created in 1997 to advance the careers of gifted, young scientists involved in cancer research. Scientists are selected who show the greatest promise and innovation, but whose careers have not evolved sufficiently to provide them the critical mass of prior research that typically justifies receiving major grants from the National Cancer Institute and other funding sources. A total of 160 talented cancer researchers have been provided with grant money since the Foundation’s inception with each receiving a $200,000 award to further a specific cancer research project. Many of the exceptional young scientists who have their careers ‘jump started’ by the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research go on to receive millions of dollars in funding from the NCI and NIH and make significant contributions to the field of cancer research. Many report that they might never have achieved such success without first receiving the Kimmel grant.

Sidney Kimmel is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Jones Apparel Group and president of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. Among many awards, Mr. Kimmel received the first-ever Medal of Honor for Cancer Philanthropy from the American Cancer Society in 2006. He has also received the American Cancer Society’s Humanitarian Award in 1999, the American Jewish Committee’s National Human Relations Award in 2000, and the Musser Award for Excellence in Leadership from Temple University in 2002.

The Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research has also funded four cancer centers at San Diego, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University and Johns Hopkins University. The gift to Johns Hopkins, $150 million, is the largest gift ever received by that institution. In the area of arts and culture, The Kimmel Foundation has supported the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia as well as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., among others. For more information visit www.kimmel.org.