Saul Rosenberg, Hodgkin lymphoma pioneer, dies at 95; Remembering those who broke the mold

On Sept. 5, 2022, the oncology community lost a pioneer in the treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma, Saul A. Rosenberg. Rosenberg was the Maureen Lyles D’Ambrogio Professor in the School of Medicine, Emeritus, at Stanford University. He was 95.

Together with the late Henry Kaplan, Rosenberg developed and tested the use of targeted radiation and the combination of radiation and chemotherapy for the treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma more than 50 years ago at Stanford. His ongoing commitment to finding successful treatment for the disease helped increase survival rates to approximately 90%.

Rosenberg’s commitment to improving cancer outcomes extended beyond Stanford through his work with ASCO. He was chair of the Scientific Program Committee before becoming the Society’s president in 1982-1983. 

Rosenberg received ASCO’s David A. Karnofsky Award, the Society’s highest scientific honor, in 1984, and its Distinguished Service Award for Scientific Achievement in 1998. He was recognized for his volunteer service to the Society with the Fellow of ASCO designation in 2007.

Carol Fabian recalls the emotional hardship that came with treating women for breast cancer in the 1970s and eighties.

“This was prior to adjuvant trastuzumab, and despite aggressive cytotoxic adjuvant treatment, too many of these young women relapsed and died,” said Carol Fabian, director of the Breast Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Research Center, holder of the Medical Oncology Mark and Bette Morris Family Professorship in Cancer Prevention, Mark and Bette Morris Foundation, and University Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

“These women often had young children and/or were at the height of their careers,” Fabian said to The Cancer Letter. “This was a tragedy over, and over, and over again. It was becoming emotionally very difficult to handle.”

The Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) was and is a hotbed for basic and translational discovery. Initially a standalone institute, the ICR is currently the main science engine for the Fox Chase Cancer Center.

[Editor’s note: This article is accompanied by a photo archive.]

Despite its modest size and budget, ICR, which thrives on small-scale, old-school science in the best sense of those terms, has historically punched well above its weight. This is due largely to its ability to attract top talent. Starting in the late 1960s, Tim Talbot, the longtime scientific director, had the wit and the means to assemble a veritable “Murderers’ Row” of cutting-edge cancer researchers that set the tone for the ICR for decades to come.

In 1999, Barton Kamen, MD, PhD, was recruited by William N. Hait, MD, PhD, then director of the newly formed Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to build the pediatric hematology and oncology program. Dr. Kamen served as a clinical professor of pediatrics and pharmacology, and chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

With tremendous energy and a passion for science, Dr. Kamen had a strong research interest in the development of metronomic chemotherapeutic regimens, and sat on a number of national cancer-related boards and committees. Many may argue Kamen’s greatest achievement, however, was the many lives he touched over the years through his compassionate care and warm, nurturing demeanor.