Paul Grotzinger and Jerry Hanks: Fox Chase pioneers

A pioneering leader of Fox Chase Cancer Center’s clinical program from 1960 into the 1980s, surgeon Paul Grotzinger is remembered for his unwavering dedication to patient care and his innovative approach to integrating research and clinical care through meaningful relationships.

“He was a strong leader who followed his goals and his rules. When he had staff meetings he ran them like he was the captain of the ship,” said Paul Engstrom, Professor Emeritus at Fox Chase, who worked closely with Grotzinger.

But this firm approach to leadership did not take away from Grotzinger’s ability to form personal bonds with his colleagues.

“He seemed gruff and tough, but for those of us who got to work with him, he was amenable to new ideas and was really rather welcoming,” said Engstrom. “In some ways he was a father figure to me. I had moved from Minnesota and had no other family in the area. Dr. Grotzinger and his wife took my wife and I under their wing and we would do things with them socially.”

An influential faculty member at Fox Chase Cancer Center and a worldwide pioneer in radiation oncology, Gerald “Jerry” Hanks revolutionized the field and left a legacy for those who followed.

“His overarching goal in his career was essentially to figure out how to take technology and better treat cancer patients by integrating it into our radiation oncology practice. He was also a huge fan of using data to shape how you make treatment decisions,” said Eric Horwitz, Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Fox Chase and the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, and one of Hanks’ former mentees.

Hanks received his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis before radiation oncology became a separate medical specialty. 

By the 1960s, he became one of the first three residents in the United States to be trained specifically as a radiation oncologist at Stanford University. 

After completing his residency, he held academic faculty appointments not only at Fox Chase but at Stanford, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Pennsylvania.

After working in private practice from 1971 to 1985, Hanks assumed the chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Fox Chase, a position he held for 16 years. While there, his advances included the first routine use in the United States of CT and MRI in planning radiation treatment and the use of ultrasound to improve the accuracy of each daily treatment.

“Jerry basically developed and put into practice the way to safely deliver higher doses of radiation more precisely, thereby curing more cancers with fewer side effects. This technique was called 3D conformal radiation therapy, and it revolutionized the practice of radiation oncology in the 1980s and 1990s,” said Horwitz.