Vanderbilt’s Mace Rothenberg, M.D., center, with Marion Morra, Sc.D., chair of the American Cancer Society’s board of directors, left, and Elmer Huerta, M.D., M.P.H., the society’s president.
Rothenberg named among nation’s top cancer caregivers
Mace Rothenberg, M.D., professor of Medicine, has been honored as one of the nation's top cancer caregivers by the American Cancer Society.
He is one of eight care providers from a variety of backgrounds and regions chosen to receive the 2008 American Cancer Society Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award, which recognizes individuals who have made a difference through innovation, leadership and consistent excellence in providing compassionate, skilled care and counsel to persons living with cancer and their families.
Rothenberg is a medical oncologist who has made significant contributions to the development and federal approval of drug treatments for colorectal and pancreatic cancer.
He is co-director, along with Robert Coffey Jr., M.D., professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, of the GI Specialized Programs of Research Excellence program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
“I am so honored to receive this award from the American Cancer Society,” said Rothenberg. “I have always felt that caring for people with cancer requires much more than an ability to calculate the right dose of chemotherapy. One of the greatest joys and challenges of what I do is to provide the best possible medical care in a context that recognizes and respects the wishes and needs of the patient and the family.”
Rothenberg is the only medical caregiver in Tennessee chosen for this award.
“Mace Rothenberg truly is one of those innovative thinkers whose focus on new biologic mechanisms to inhibit cancer cells has helped lead to our growing leadership position among cancer centers,” said Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D., director of Vanderbilt-Ingram. “At the same time, he is a patient-centered clinician who unfailingly provides compassionate care to individuals and their families.”