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Fox Chase’s V. Craig Jordan Named Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine

V. Craig Jordan, OBE, PhD, DSc (r), one of five scholars from around the world to receive an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Medicine on July 15, 2008.

PHILADELPHIA (September 4, 2008) —V. Craig Jordan, OBE, PhD, DSc, was one of five scholars from around the world to receive an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Medicine on July 15, 2008 at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) headquarters in London. The award is one of the highest honors in British medicine.

According to the rules of the RSM, “Only persons of international standing who have eminently distinguished themselves in the service of medicine and the fields which influence it are eligible for Honorary Fellowship of the Society.“ The society permits, at most 100 people into this elite group at any one time. At present, there are only 89 Honorary Fellows.

The award recognized Dr. Jordan’s scientific contributions that resulted in the clinical use and application of tamoxifen and raloxifene. Tamoxifen was the gold standard for the treatment of breast cancer for more than 20 years and it is estimated that more than 500,000 women are alive today because of the application of this drug in breast cancer therapy. Tamoxifen is also the first chemopreventive for any cancer and is FDA approved for risk reduction in high-risk pre-and post-menopausal women.

Raloxifene was first shown by Jordan to preserve bone density and prevent mammary cancer in laboratory animals at the same time. Today, raloxifene is used to prevent osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and it is FDA-approved to reduce the risk of breast cancer in high-risk postmenopausal women.

An Honorary Fellowship from the RSM is considered to be a mark of exceptional contributions to medicine. In 1990, Fox Chase researcher Baruch Blumberg, PhD, was elected an Honorary Fellow based on his Nobel Prize-winning work on the Hepatitis B virus and vaccine

Fox Chase Cancer Center is one of the leading freestanding cancer research and treatments centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as the nation's first cancer hospital, Fox Chase became one of the first institutions to be designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1974. Today, Fox Chase conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research, with special programs in cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and community outreach. For more information, call 1-888-FOX-CHASE or 1-888-369-2427. Other 2008 releases

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