Inside Duke Medicine
Colvin retiring as Cancer Center head emeritus
posted December 19th, 2008
O. Michael Colvin, M.D., director emeritus of the Comprehensive Cancer Center and the William W. Shingleton Professor of Cancer Research, will retire effective Dec. 31, 2008.
Colvin will become professor emeritus and will maintain an office next to his previous laboratories so he can continue to mentor faculty and trainees. A symposium in his honor is being planned for the spring.
Colvin has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in medicine. He joined Duke’s faculty in 1995 and successfully led the Cancer Center from 1995-2002, a time of significant growth and scientific achievement.
Colvin is widely recognized for his pioneering work with anti-cancer drugs used for bone marrow transplantation and many common forms of cancer. He has served as co-leader of the Experimental Therapeutics Research Program and has published more than 150 paperson the mechanism of action and cellular resistance to alkylating agents, preclinical and clinical pharmacology of anti-tumor agents, and the pharmacology of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, as well as the development of new agents for the treatment of brain tumors and other malignancies.
In 2002, Colvin stepped down as director of the Cancer Center to spend more time focused on his personal research interests. He was awarded the R. Wayne Rundles, M.D., Award for Excellence in Cancer Research in 2003.
In addition to his achievements in research and his accomplishmentsas the Cancer Center’s director, Colvin has always been a faithful supporter of all cancer patients. He and his wife, Macey, were honored in 2004 as the Light of Hope recipients by the Duke Cancer Patient Support Program for their support of the program and the patients it serves. Colvin also has participated for years in the Grimes Big Event to Fight Cancer, bicycling to raise money to support research at Duke.