Chair, Commission on Cancer, 1983–1985
By Susan Deming
Richard E. Wilson, MD, FACS, graduated from Syracuse University and earned his medical degree from State University of New York Medical School at Syracuse in 1951. He served in the U.S. Army as a surgeon in Korea from 1953 to 1955. He was the fifth recipient of the American College of Surgeons Mead Johnson Award for Graduate Training in Surgery from 1960 to 1963. Dr. Wilson spent much of his career at Harvard Medical School serving as a professor of surgery, heading Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s transplant service from 1972 to 1976 and the surgical research laboratory from 1969 to 1975, and serving as chief of cancer surgery at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute starting in 1975. His contributions to Harvard Medical School were honored in 1988 with an endowed professorship—the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the Field of Surgical Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
In 1968, Dr. Wilson published breakthrough research confirming that organ transplantation from a donor with cancer can cause cancer in the recipient and showing evidence that the recipient’s immune system can reject the cancer cells once the organ is removed and immunosuppressive drugs are stopped. He also published extensive research on the use of chemotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer and soft cell sarcoma. An active proponent of improvement in the field of surgical oncology, he highlighted the need for surgeon involvement in the development of clinical trials and the importance of standardization of operative techniques.
Dr. Wilson served as Chair of the Commission on Cancer (CoC) from 1983 to 1985. Under his leadership, the CoC led the way into a new frontier of using computer technology to gather data, by supporting the distribution of CanSurTM, an early software designed to automate and standardize data collection. The Committee on Approvals approved record numbers of hospitals each year during his tenure, reaching 1,027 in 1985. The Committee on Patient Care and Research conducted multiple studies on patient management and outcomes for specific tumors, including Hodgkin’s disease, soft tissue sarcoma, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. The Committee on Field Liaison worked toward improving cancer programs, including broadening implementation of the AJCC staging system, and the Committee on Education developed postgraduate courses for Clinical Congress, which were well received and attended.
Dr. Wilson was an innovator and forward-thinking surgeon who spent his career consistently advancing surgical research and standards. By advancing the use of new technology to improve data collection and bringing attention to the benefits of standardizing surgical techniques, he not only improved cancer care, but also championed ideals still held by the CoC today.
Written by Susan Deming