Obituary: Martin D. Abeloff, 65, Director of Johns Hopkins Cancer Center

Martin D. Abeloff, an oncologist who served as director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins for 15 years, died of leukemia September 14, reports The Sun, in Baltimore. He was 65.

During his tenure at the cancer center, Dr. Abeloff doubled the number of its faculty and increased its research dollars to six times the amount it had in 1992, said a Johns Hopkins spokesman. Kimmel ranks third among the nation’s best cancer centers in U.S. News & World Report surveys, according to The Sun.

“His contributions to the state of the science, in the use of mammography, and in techniques to screen for breast-cancer risk factors transformed prevention efforts,” said a joint statement prepared by Elias A. Zerhouni and John E. Niederhuber, directors of the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, respectively.

Dr. Abeloff talked about the Kimmel Center’s work in a recent edition of The Chronicle.

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