The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Conducted groundbreaking work in chromosome changes, including the Philadelphia chromosome
Acceptance Speech
Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, is a Distinguished University Professor, the William
G. Pace III Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, and cancer scholar and senior
advisor at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her work
and accomplishments include:
Early research focused on the study of chromosome abnormalities in
cancers of the hematopoietic system
Key contributor in discovering the Philadelphia chromosome in
patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and in describing
the rearrangement of chromosome 16q22 in acute myeloid
leukemia (AML)
Recent research focusing on molecular changes that occur in adults
with AML
Among the first to prove that elderly patients with AML, long believed
to be fatal, could be cured through chemotherapy
Demonstrated that patients with certain types of leukemia required
stem cell transplantation for cure, while others could be treated
successfully without undergoing such intense intervention
Assumed the directorship of The Ohio State University Comprehensive
Cancer Center in 1997, the third woman to lead a National
Cancer Institute—designated center
Advanced the role of women in medicine through her active mentorship,
by serving as a role model, and through enhancing university policy
guidelines on equal employment and other issues for women faculty