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V. Craig Jordan Receives American Cancer Society Award for Chemoprevention

Jordan's research provided the basis for the breast cancer prevention drugs tamoxifen and raloxifene

ATLANTA - V. Craig Jordan, OBE, Ph.D., D.Sc., of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia has received the 2006 American Cancer Society Award and Lecture for his significant contributions to the prevention and control of cancer. The presentation of the award and Jordan's lecture, "Chemoprevention of Breast Cancer: Serendipity and Pragmatism" were held at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, on Monday, June 5, 2006.

The American Cancer Society award comes at an exciting time in the application of cancer prevention strategies, an area of research in which Jordan is a major contributor. In April, the National Cancer Institute announced results of a major study comparing two drugs, tamoxifen and raloxifene, in the prevention of breast cancer in high-risk postmenopausal women. Both drugs have been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer dramatically in high-risk women.

These compounds, called SERMs or selective estrogen-receptor modulators, act like estrogen in some tissues but not in others. They block the effects of natural estrogen that may promote breast cancer but, like estrogen, help reduce the risk of bone loss and fractures.

Jordan was the first scientist to demonstrate tamoxifen's ability to prevent breast cancer in laboratory rats. His pioneering work guided the evolution from preclinical lab studies to clinical research on the drug. He also was instrumental in the development of the estrogen-modulating compound raloxifene, originally approved for osteoporosis is postmenopausal women.

Jordan's published studies of tamoxifen and other "designer estrogens" have made him one of the top 20 most-cited breast cancer researchers over the past decade.

Jordan is vice president and scientific director for the medical science division at Fox Chase and holder of the Alfred G. Knudson Jr., M.D., Ph.D., Chair in Cancer Research. His national and international awards include the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation's 2003 Charles F. Kettering Prize, the American Cancer Society's 2002 Medal of Honor, the 2001 Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research and the first Brinker International Breast Cancer Award for Basic Science from the Susan G. Komen Foundation in 1992. In 2002, Queen Elizabeth II named him an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to international breast cancer research.