Dennis Joseph Slamon (born August 6, 1948), [1][2] is an American oncologist and chief of the division of Hematology-Oncology at UCLA. He is best known for his work identifying the HER2/neu oncogene that is amplified in 25–33% of breast cancer patients and the resulting treatment trastuzumab. The film recounts the true story of Dr. DennisSlamon (played by Harry Connick Jr.), who helped develop the breast cancer drug Herceptin, over eight years from 1988 to 1996. As a child growing up in New Castle, he regularly was exposed to the doctors who treated him and his family. His father Joseph had quit coal mining, after surviving two mine cave-ins, only to lose his leg in a horrible car accident. So doctors making house calls were not infrequent visitors to the family’s home. Slamon was impressed b...See full list on cancerhistoryproject.comAfter completing his residency and chief residency in 1979, he accepted a fellowship to UCLA’s Department of Hematology-Oncology. Slamon acknowledges, the most obvious choice. UCLA today is a top-tier academic institution, with a medical school that is ranked No. 6 in the nation for research. But in the 1970s, it was still a “baby” ...See full list on cancerhistoryproject.com“If we can understand what’s broken in a normal cell that makes it become a cancer cell,” Dr. Slamon says, “then we can develop smarter drugs that would only attack the cancer cells and leave healthy cells alone.” In other words, a guided missile as opposed to a hand grenade. Slamon began testing monoclonal antibodies from different biotech com...See full list on cancerhistoryproject.comIn the early 1990s, women with the HER2+ subtype had an average life expectancy after diagnosis of three-to-five years. Today, women with the HER2+ type of breast cancer now have among the best prognoses of women with breast cancer.
