SAN ANTONIO (Nov. 26, 2008)— Ian M. Thompson Jr., M.D., will be given the highest award bestowed by the Society of Urologic Oncology at its annual meeting Dec. 4 in Bethesda, Md.
Dr. Thompson, who served as president of the society in 2004, is professor and chairman of the Department of Urology and holder of the Henry B. and Edna Smith Dielmann Memorial Chair in Urologic Science at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He also holds the Glenda and Gary Woods Distinguished Chair in Genitourinary Oncology at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at the UT Health Science Center.
The Society will present Dr. Thompson with its Huggins Medal, awarded annually for outstanding contributions in furthering the science of urological oncology and in furthering patient care for individuals with genitourinary cancer.
Dr. Thompson has conducted extensive research on the prevention of prostate cancer, including serving as the primary coordinator of the National Cancer Institute’s Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial which demonstrated the ability of the drug finasteride to reduce a man’s risk of prostate cancer.
In addition to prostate cancer prevention, Dr. Thompson’s 390 scientific articles and 25 book chapters have addressed prevention, early detection, and treatment for urologic cancers including prostate, kidney, and bladder cancer. He currently serves as the Chair of the Genitourinary Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group and serves on numerous editorial boards and national committees.
The Huggins Medal is named after Charles B. Huggins, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1966 in recognition of his work on the hormonal treatment of prostate cancer.
The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is one of the nation’s leading academic research and treatment centers, serving more than 4.4 million people in the high-growth corridor of Central and South Texas including Austin, San Antonio, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. CTRC is one of a few elite cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Center, and is one of only three in Texas. CTRC handles more than 120,000 patient visits each year and is a world leader in developing new drugs to treat cancer. The CTRC Institute for Drug Development (IDD) is internationally recognized for conducting the largest oncology Phase I clinical drug studies program in the world. IDD has participated in the clinical and/or preclinical development of many of the cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. For more information, visit www.ctrc.uthscsa.edu.