Richard L. Edelson, MD, received the Lifetime Achievement Award during the annual Yale Cancer Center Conclave. The award ceremony held virtually on February 15 and hosted by Eric P. Winer, MD, Director of Yale Cancer Center and Physician-in-Chief of Smilow Cancer Hospital, celebrates faculty and provider accomplishments in 2021. The Lifetime Achievement Award is given annually to a Yale Cancer Center member who has impacted the field of oncology both nationally and internationally.
“Rick has done so much for Yale Cancer Center over the years,” said Marcus Bosenberg, MD, PhD, who presented Edelson with the award. Bosenberg is Professor of Dermatology, Pathology, and Immunobiology, the Inaugural Director of the Yale Center for Immuno-Oncology, Co-Leader of the Genomics, Genetics, and Epigenetics Program at Yale Cancer Center, Contact Principal Investigator of the Yale SPORE (Specialized Program of Research Excellence) in Skin Cancer, and Director of the Center for Precision Cancer Modeling. “This is a well-deserved award.”
Edelson is the Aaron B. and Marguerite Lerner Professor of Dermatology at Yale Cancer Center and Chair of the Department of Dermatology at Yale School of Medicine, a position he has held for 36 years, the longest-serving Chair in Yale history. From 2003-2008, Edelson served as Director of Yale Cancer Center. A leader in immunobiology, Edelson described and named Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma and later, devised Etracorporeal Photochemotherapy, which became the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved immunotherapy for any cancer.
“I’m thrilled by how well-positioned Yale Cancer Center is now for even greater heights and I’m glad to have been able to contribute to that a bit,” said Edelson.