Fox Chase Cancer Center Physician Receives International Award for Patient Care

PHILADELPHIA (March 2, 2001) -- Robert F. Ozols, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president for medical science at Fox Chase Cancer Center, has received the Claude Jacquillat Award for outstanding contributions to cancer patient care.� The award was presented in February at the International Congress of Anticancer Treatment in Versailles, France.

The Claude Jacquillat Award has been awarded since 1991.� It was established in memory of Dr. Jacquillat (1929-1990) by his collaborators, his students, and his friends.� Dr. Jacquillat was an outstanding leader in clinical cancer research.

Dr. Ozols is internationally recognized for his expertise in ovarian cancer.� His research focuses on how cancer cells develop resistance to anticancer drugs and on strategies for overcoming drug resistance.� Drug resistance, which often occurs in patients with ovarian cancer, is a major problem in therapy for a number of adults cancer.

The recipient of a 1990 Cancer Research Award from the Milken Family Medical Foundation, Dr. Ozols has developed new clinical approaches to treating patients with ovarian cancer, using high-dose chemotherapy, paclitaxel and carboplatin combinations, and pharmocologic techniques to reverse drug resistance.� He is principal investigator of an NCI Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in ovarian cancer.

Born in Latvia in 1944, Ozols earned his B.S. in chemistry in 1966, his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1971 and his M.D. in 1974 at University of Rochester in New York.� He completed his internship and residency at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, N.H.� He is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Fox Chase Cancer Center, one of the nation's first comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute in 1974, conducts basic and clinical research; programs of prevention, detection and treatment of cancer; and community outreach. For more information about Fox Chase activities, visit the Center's web site at www.fccc.edu.