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VCU Massey Cancer Center leader and physician-researcher Harry Bear, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of the NSABP Foundation, Inc.

The NSABP – National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project – Foundation is the world’s leading cooperative group for designing and conducting large-scale breast and colorectal cancer clinical trials. Supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) since its inception more than 50 years ago, the group has pioneered trials that have changed the way breast and bowel cancers are treated and prevented. While federally funded trials will now be conducted by the NRG Oncology group, formed by the merger of NSABP with two other cooperative groups, the NSABP Foundation will conduct innovative trials funded largely by industry sources. This change has become a key part of the overall landscape of cancer clinical trials as the NCI decreases funding and the number of patients on its trials. As a member of the Board, Bear will help to set policy for the Foundation and be responsible for the management of its finances and operations.

Bear has long been associated with the NSABP, serving on its Board of Directors in 1991-1996 and in 1997-2013 and on many various committees since 1986. He played a key role as study chair of two international trials of breast cancer chemotherapy used prior to surgery and was the Massey lead investigator on many NSABP studies. In 2009, he was recognized with the NSABP Distinguished Investigator Lifetime Achievement Award.

An expert in the treatment of breast, melanoma and gastrointestinal cancers, Bear is the Dr. Walter Lawrence, Jr. Chair in Surgical Oncology and director of the Breast Health Center at Massey Cancer Center, leading a multidisciplinary team in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. In addition, he is the medical director of Massey’s Clinical Trials Office and chair of its Protocol Review & Monitoring Committee as well as professor of surgery and professor of microbiology and immunology at the VCU School of Medicine.

Written by: Jenny Owen