Dr. Dennis Slamon is a world-renowned oncologist whose groundbreaking discoveries have revolutionized the treatment of breast cancer on a global scale. He currently serves as Chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology and Professor of Medicine at UCLA, while also directing Clinical/Translational Research and the Revlon/UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Born in New Castle, Pennsylvania to parents of Syrian descent whose father worked as a coal miner, Dr. Slamon pursued his pre-medical education at Washington & Jefferson College before earning both his MD and PhD in cell biology from the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine in 1975. After completing his residency and chief residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals, he joined UCLA in 1979 as a fellow in Hematology-Oncology, establishing the foundation for his transformative research career.
Dr. Slamon's pioneering work identified the HER2/neu oncogene amplification in approximately 25 percent of breast cancer cases, revealing its critical association with aggressive tumor behavior and significantly poorer patient outcomes. His meticulous collection and analysis of surgically removed breast cancer specimens in the 1980s demonstrated that tumors with HER2 amplification exhibited substantially more aggressive clinical behavior and higher fatality rates. This seminal discovery led to the development of the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab, commercially known as Herceptin, which specifically targets the HER2 protein and has since become standard treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer. Over twelve years of dedicated laboratory and clinical research culminated in this breakthrough therapy that has saved and extended the lives of millions of patients worldwide by transforming a previously uniformly fatal diagnosis into a treatable condition.
Recognized for his extraordinary scientific contributions, Dr. Slamon was appointed to President Clinton's Cancer Panel in 2000 and received the prestigious Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award in 2019 for demonstrating that monoclonal antibodies represent a viable and effective strategy for treating solid tumors. His work fundamentally changed the approach to breast cancer diagnosis and treatment by establishing the paradigm of precision oncology based on molecular biomarkers. Beyond his scientific achievements, Dr. Slamon continues to advance cancer research through his leadership currently serving as director of the medical advisory board for the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance. His enduring legacy exemplifies the transformative power of translational medicine, demonstrating how rigorous laboratory investigation can be successfully translated into clinical interventions that fundamentally alter patient outcomes for devastating diseases.
