FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Don Jewler, ACCC Communications Director
301.984.9496, ext. 208
djewler@accc-cancer.org
For Immediate Release: March 1, 2007
Association of Community Cancer Centers to Honor Connecticut Oncologist Richard C. Frank, MD
ROCKVILLE, MD–Richard C. Frank, MD, will be honored with the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ annual David King Community Clinical Scientist Award. Dr. Frank is a hematologist/oncologist in community practice and director of Cancer Research at the Whittingham Cancer Center at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Conn. He also serves as medical director of the Mid-Fairfield Hospice in Wilton, Conn.
Dr. Frank will be honored at ACCC’s 33rd Annual National Meeting on Thursday, March 29, 2007, in Baltimore, Md. The David King Community Clinical Scientist Award recognizes active community clinical research leaders. Award winners have demonstrated leadership in the development, participation, and evaluation of clinical studies and/or are active in the development of new screening, risk assessment, treatment, or supportive care programs for cancer patients.
Dr. Frank has been actively engaged in studies on blood cancers and has helped raise awareness in the community about the importance of cancer clinical trials. He was the recipient of a National Institutes of Health Grant for research studying the genetic basis of leukemia, and was awarded the Humanitarian Award in 2005 by the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society of Fairfield County for his commitment to patient care and education.
In 2001, Dr. Frank established a cancer research program at Norwalk Hospital and affiliated with the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB), a national clinical research group sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Frank has overseen the enrollment of nearly 200 patients on NCI and industry-sponsored studies.
Prior to joining Norwalk Hospital, Dr. Frank was an attending physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in the Division of Hematologic Oncology.
ACCC’s prestigious award is named after David K. King, MD, FACP, who passed away after a brief battle with cancer. Dr. King had a long and colorful history with the Association of Community Cancer Centers, serving in many capacities—President, Chair of ACCC’s Annual Presidents’ Retreat, and Co-Chair of ACCC’s reimbursement committee, just to name a few. Dr. King spent his entire life caring for individuals with cancer and advocating for access to quality care, while also championing the Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) and the value of clinical research in the community setting. Award winners become lifetime members of the ACCC National Academy of Community Oncology Scientists, which will serve as a valuable resource to ACCC, the National Cancer Institute, pharmaceutical companies, and other organizations involved in community cancer research.
The Association of Community Cancer Centers provides a national forum for addressing issues that affect community cancer programs, such as regulatory and legislative issues, measurements of the quality of care, and clinical research. Its unique membership of more than 650 hospital cancer programs and oncology private practices includes all members of the cancer care team: medical and radiation oncologists, surgeons, cancer program administrators and medical directors, oncology nurses, pharmacists, radiation therapists, oncology social workers, and cancer program data managers.
