Lymphoma Expert, Francine M. Foss, MD, Appointed at Yale Cancer Center
For Immediate Release
Date: 3/21/05
Contact: Renee Gaudette (203) 785-2143
New Haven, Conn. - Yale Cancer Center Director, Richard L. Edelson, MD, has announced the appointment of Dr. Francine Foss, Professor of Medical Oncology, at Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Foss is an internationally recognized clinician and clinical researcher with expertise in adult lymphomas and in stem cell allotransplantation.
“Dr. Foss is a prime example of an active clinical and translational investigator, having derived and tested therapies that have been used to treat thousands of cancer patients. Her recent research has potential to substantially impact the field of stem cell allotransplantation, bringing significant benefit to cancer patients at Yale and throughout the world. Her addition to our already very strong T Cell Lymphoma and Stem Cell Transplantation teams will enhance our international prominence in these clinical areas,” Dr. Edelson said.
Currently the Director of the Lymphoma and Experimental Therapeutics and leader of the Graft-vs-Host and Transplant Immunology Group at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, Dr. Foss will bring a nationally established clinical trials program to Yale Cancer Center. She has designed, initiated, and directed multi-center national clinical trials of two pharmacologic agents for lymphoma, which have subsequently received FDA approval and are widely used treatments. One of these, Interleukin-2 conjugated to Diphtheria toxin, was the first FDA approved fusion biologic drug to be approved for use in the United States.
Dr. Foss’ recent clinical research in the field of stem cell transplantation has received national acclaim. With the introduction of intravenous infusions of autologous immature dendritic cells before an allogeneic bone marrow transplant, Foss has reduced the development of graft-versus-host disease in patients from the average of 40-50 percent to only 15 percent. These findings, initially revealed through a study of 104 lymphoma patients in her care, have led to the initiation of two NCI-sponsored trials to confirm these results in patients with lymphoma and myelodysplastic syndrome undergoing allogeneic bone marrow transplant.. For this important advance, Dr. Foss’s group received the George Santos Award from the American Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation in 2004.
A graduate of Dartmouth College, Dr. Foss received her Medical Degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She completed her internship and residency training in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital before going to the National Cancer Institute, where she completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology and served as a Senior Investigator and Chairman of the T-Cell Lymphoma Program.
Dr. Foss chaired the plenary session on T Cell Lymphoma at the last two International Meetings on Lymphoma and has been an invited speaker at over 40 national and international conferences and annual meetings over the last three years. In addition to her authorship of numerous original articles, reviews, or book chapters, Dr. Foss serves on the editorial board of the journal, Clinical Lymphoma.
Yale Cancer Center is one of a select network of 39 comprehensive cancer centers in the country designated by the National Cancer Institute and the only one in Southern New England. Bringing together the resources of Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Yale University School of Medicine, its mission encompasses patient care, research, cancer prevention and control, community outreach, and education. For more information on the Center, please go to www.yalecancercenter.org