01 Oct Douglass Tormey’s passion for clinical research helped millions of cancer patients

UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center

Dr. Douglass Tormey changed the lives of millions of breast cancer patients with his role in validating the benefits of tamoxifen as both a cancer treatment and preventive medication.

The antiestrogen drug is still a key tool for breast oncologists today, thanks to the collaboration of Tormey, an oncologist and translational researcher, and Dr. V. Craig Jordan, a scientist whose years of lab-based research laid the groundwork for their 1980s collaborations at UW.

“It was cutting-edge laboratory research coming from Craig Jordan that was being translated into true cutting-edge clinical testing by Doug Tormey … and it has changed the way breast cancer has been treated since that time,” said Dr. Paul Sondel, a pediatric cancer researcher who has worked at UW since 1980.

Tormey, a native of Madison, passed away in July. His 16-year career at UW included many other innovations in breast cancer patient care, such as optimizing combination chemotherapy treatments and researching the most beneficial sequencing of treatments. Read more …