Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 15, 2005|Volume 32, Number 26

World-renowned researcher Foss to join staff

Dr. Francine Foss, an internationally recognized clinician and clinical researcher with expertise in adult lymphomas and in stem cell allotransplantation, has been appointed as professor of medical oncology at the Yale Cancer Center.

"Dr. Foss is a prime example of an active clinical and translational investigator, having derived and tested therapies which have been used to treat thousands of cancer patients," says Dr. Richard L. Edelson, director of the Yale Cancer Center. "Her recent research has potential to substantially impact the field of stem cell allotransplantation, bringing significant benefit to cancer patients at Yale and throughout the world. Her addition to our already very strong T cell lymphoma and stem cell transplantation teams will enhance our international prominence in these clinical areas."

Foss, who is currently director of the Lymphoma and Experimental Therapeutics Group at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, will bring a nationally established clinical trials program to the Yale Cancer Center. She designed, initiated and directed multi-center national clinical trials of two pharmacologic agents for lymphoma, which have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are widely used treatments. One of these, Interleukin-2 conjugated to Diphtheria toxin, was the first fusion biologic drug to be approved by the FDA for use in the United States.

Foss' recent clinical research in the field of stem cell transplantation has received national acclaim. By introducing intravenous infusions of autologous immature dendritic cells before an allogeneic bone marrow transplant, Foss has reduced the development of graft-versus-host disease in patients from the average of 40%-50% to only 15%.

For this work, Foss received the George Santos Award from the American Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation in 2004. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Foss received her M.D. from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She completed her internship and residency training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital before going to the National Cancer Institute to complete a fellowship in medical oncology.

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