CoC Chairs

Frank E. Adair, MD, FACS, had perhaps the longest tenure of any chair of the Commission on Cancer (CoC).

John W. Cline, MD, FACS, was born in Santa Rosa, CA, on July 2, 1898. He earned a B.A. in history at the University of California in 1921. He then served in World War I in the Nasal Reserve.

Laurie J. Kirstein, MD, FACS, Chair of the CoC Education Committee, interviews Robert W. Beart, Jr., MD, FACS, FASCRS, CoC Chair from 1985 to 1987.

Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, MACP, FASCO, CoC Chair from 2016-2020, interviews Sir Murray F. Brennan, GNZM, MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 1992 to 1994.

Benjamin Franklin Byrd, Jr., MD, FACS, served as Chair of the Commission on Cancer from 1969 to 1975 and as a member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons from 1973 to 1976.

R. Lee Clark Jr. was born July 2, 1907, in Hereford, TX, and grew up in Wichita Falls. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in chemical engineering and went to the Medical College of Virginia, where he graduated first in his class in 1932.

John W. Cline, MD, FACS, was born in Santa Rosa, CA, on July 2, 1898. He earned a B.A. in history at the University of California in 1921. He then served in World War I in the Nasal Reserve.

CoC Chair Timothy W. Mullett, MD, MBA, FACS, interviews Alfred M. Cohen, MD, FACS, FASCRS, CoC Chair from 2000-2004.

Murray M. Copeland, MD, FACS, chaired the Committee on Cancer from 1964-65. He was a graduate of Oglethorpe University in his native Georgia.

Arnold M. Baskies, MD, FACS, Chair of the CoC Advocacy Committee, interviews John M. Daly, MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 1994-1996. Dr. Daly passed away in March 2021.

Charles Alfred Dukes, MD, FACS, was born in Numa, IA, on April 23, 1872, and graduated from the Cooper Medical College (which would later become the Stanford University School of Medicine) in 1895

CoC North Carolina State Chair Richard White, MD, FACS, interviews Stephen B. Edge, MD, FACS, FASCO, CoC Chair from 2008-2012.

CoC North Carolina State Chair Richard White, MD, FACS, interviews Frederick L. Greene, MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 2004-2008.

Robert Battey Greenough, MD, FACS, was born November 9, 1871. He was the founder of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on the Treatment of Malignant Diseases, now known as the Commission on Cancer, and served as its chair from 1922 to 1933.

Frederick L. Greene, MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 2004-2008, interviews Scott A. Hundahl, MD, FACS, FSSO, FAHNS, CoC Chair from 1998-2000.

Frederick L. Greene, MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 2004-2008, interviews Walter Lawrence, Jr., MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 1979-1983.

Burton James Lee was born in New Haven, CT, on February 4, 1874. He received a bachelor’s of philosophy from Yale University in 1894 and his medical degree from Columbia University in 1898, and interned at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

Edwin P. Lehman, MD, FACS, served as the Chair of the Committee on Cancer from 1951 to 1954.

Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, MACP, FASCO, CoC Chair from 2016-2020, interviews current CoC Chair Timothy W. Mullett, MD, MBA, FACS.

Frederick L. Greene, MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 2004-2008, interviews John E. Niederhuber, MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 1989-1990.

Frederick L. Greene, MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 2004-2008, interviews Edward E. Partridge, MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 1996-1998.

CoC Chair Timothy W. Mullett, MD, FACS, interviews Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, MACP, FASCO, CoC Chair from 2016-2020.

In defining the components of any new cancer program, Danely P. Slaughter, MD, FACS, emphasized that any program wishing to be a true cancer program needed more than a cancer registry alone to qualify.

Aaron Bleznak, MD, MBA, FACS, interviews Glenn D. Steele, Jr. MD, FACS, CoC Chair from 1990-1992.

Grantley W. Taylor, MD, FACS, served as the Chair of the Committee on Cancer from 1947 to 1951. He was born in 1897 in Paterson, NJ. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1922.

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.