Biological Sciences Alumnus Receives OSU Alumni Association's Top Award
Pioneering cancer researcher Dr. Moses Judah
Folkman, B.S., biological sciences, 1953, is the 2003 recipient
of the OSU Alumni Association's highest honor for alumni, the Alumni
Medalist Award, which recognizes outstanding national/international
professional achievement. He received the award at the Alumni Association's
Annual Alumni Awards Banquet, Friday, November 7 at the Hyatt Regency.
The College of Biological Sciences is extremely proud to claim Dr. Folkman as an alumnus! Dr. Folkman was nominated for the award by CBS Dean Joan Herbers. One of the letters supporting his nomination was from the editor of Scientific American, which has profiled and interviewed Dr. Folkman several times.
Dr. Folkman, Professor of Pediatric Surgery, Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Surgical Research Laboratory at Children's Hospital, Boston, has become a legend in his own time, and hailed internationally for blazing new trails in cancer research.
Dr. Folkman is acknowledged as the father of angiogenesis, or "new blood vessel growth," research. His theory that tumors might secrete a substance allowing them to "recruit" or grow blood vessels to feed them, once highly controversial, is now widely accepted as a viable field of inquiry with thousands of researchers working in the area where once he toiled alone.
The subsequent work of Dr. Folkman's lab to identify substances that could be used as well-targeted drugs to check this process, led to the discovery of two potent substances, angiostatin and endostatin, which produced dramatic effects in mice. Experiments showed these substances had the ability to significantly shrink tumors in 100 percent of the treated mice.
These two drugs and almost two dozen others are now in clinical trials, which to date show real promise. If these trials continue to show that these drugs will work, it will profoundly change the way we treat cancer. Dr. Folkman's breakthrough offers the opportunity to manage cancer as a chronic rather than fatal disease and offers hope for thousands of cancer patients for whom there is no other hope.
Dr. Folkman has been the subject of intense media coverage, from the front page of the New York Times to articles in Scientific American to a NOVA special, "Cancer Warrior."
Known and revered throughout the world for perseverance in the face of professional criticism, selfless dedication to research and breakthrough discoveries offering real hope for the way we treat and manage cancer, Dr. Folkman is certainly one of Ohio State's and the College of Biological Sciences' most distinguished alumni and a true hero of modern medicine!
A Rare Opportunity...
In the spirit of enhancing the undergraduate learning experience, we were pleased to be able to provide several of our outstanding undergraduate students the exciting opportunity to meet and talk with Dr. Folkman at a reception in his honor hosted by the Dean's Office, prior to the Alumni Awards banquet. This informal event allowed each student to discuss his or her research project with Dr. Folkman, whose attentiveness, courtesy and humor, soon had everyone at ease. His genuine interest and appreciation of their work, coupled with his valuable input and advice, made this an experience these young researchers will long remember. Attending were Julie Richey, Marla Hassink, Mark Troyer, Ann Singer, Deanna Cettomai, Katrina Johnson, Autumn White, Sam Lasse, Michael Cheich and Elaine Halter.
Originally published Autumn 2003
