Adamson and Poplack Receive ASCO Special Awards
Two longtime advisors to Children’s Cancer Cause and pioneers in childhood cancer research and care were honored this past weekend at the ASCO Annual Meeting, the world’s largest gathering of oncology professionals.
Peter C. Adamson, MD, FASCO, received ASCO’s Pediatric Oncology Award, recognizing the career and achievements of someone who has contributed outstanding scientific work in pediatric oncology.
Susan Weiner, Children’s Cancer Cause founder, was honored to introduce Dr. Adamson at the Plenary Session to more than 40,000 in person and online attendees. Susan noted the tremendous contribution he has made to advancing clinical care throughout his career, including his leadership of the Children’s Oncology Group, a consortium of more than 220 childhood cancer centers.
“We need advocacy in Washington - on the Hill, we need advocacy at the NIH and increasingly we need advocacy globally. And Children’s Cause is leading these efforts.” - Dr. Adamson speaking at a Children’s Cancer Cause event in 2018
“[Dr. Adamson] made a deliberate effort to reach out and connect with the advocacy community,” Susan said. “His leadership for children with cancer and tenderness with their families – hundreds and hundreds of patients and families – has had a ripple effect across the country.”
Watch Susan’s full introduction in the video at the bottom of this post.
Dr. Adamson served on the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) and the Blue Ribbon Panel for the Beau Biden National Cancer Moonshot Initiative. Today, he’s senior vice president and global head of Oncology Development & Pediatric Innovation at the pharmaceutical company Sanofi and emeritus professor of pediatrics and pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
“Pediatric oncology, to me, is one of the most rewarding fields because everyone shares the same goals, and you don’t have to explain the mission. I am incredibly honored,” Dr. Adamson said in this recent ASCO profile.
Dr. Poplack (center) receiving the Rosen Award in 2019, with Children’s Cancer Cause board members Adam Rosen (left) and Dr. Michael Link (right).
David G. Poplack, MD, former Children’s Cancer Cause board member, received ASCO’s Excellence In Teaching Award for his demonstrable impact on residents, postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, inspiring and mentoring generations in the practice of cancer medicine. Scores of his pediatric oncology trainees now care for children around the world.
Dr. Poplack’s 25 years of leadership turned the Texas Children’s Cancer Center into one of the nation’s preeminent pediatric cancer clinical and research centers. He helped develop the Passport for Care, a pioneering online tool for childhood cancer survivors to manage their long-term care and is a founding co-editor of Principles and Practice of Pediatric Oncology, the leading textbook for pediatric oncology.
Dr. Poplack is a professor of pediatric oncology at Baylor College of Medicine and directs Global HOPE at Texas Children’s Hospital, a program in partnership with Baylor Medicine to provide multi-disciplinary cancer care children within sub-Saharan Africa. In his ASCO award profile, Dr. Poplack said, “When we started—and even now—many countries had no pediatric oncologist. In the last six years, we have trained 26 pediatric oncologists and hundreds of nurses in multiple countries.”
Among his scores of awards, Dr. Poplack is a recipient of the Children’s Cancer Cause Leonard M. Rosen Memorial Research Award, in recognition of his international leadership and championing of researchers, clinicians and patient advocates.
You can read about all of this year’s ASCO Special Award recipients here.