American Cancer Society honors cancer fighters for distinguished service, leadership and humanitarian efforts

American Cancer Society
Monday, 4 November 2002

The American Cancer Society, the nation's leading voluntary health agency, presented its 2002 Distinguished Service Award to Stephen Wyatt, DMD, MPH, the 2002 Humanitarian Award to Lovell A. Jones, PhD and Armin Weinberg, PhD and 2002 Volunteer Leadership Award to Irwin Belk and Raymond Weisberg, MD.

The American Cancer Society has bestowed the Distinguished Service award since 1945. The award recognizes one or more individuals in the cancer field each year for remarkable efforts. Dr. Stephen Wyatt serves as associate director for cancer control at the Lucille P. Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, his alma mater for his doctor of dental medicine degree. He served as an officer in the United States Public Health Service for two decades and was chief of the National Health Service Corps Primary Care Program.

Dr. Wyatt is perhaps most well-known for creating innovative cancer control programs at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is also a key figure in the founding of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, bringing together the greatest forces our nation has to offer in the fight against colon cancer.

The Humanitarian Award — inaugurated in 1990 — honors individuals who have made outstanding improvements in human welfare and social reform, impacting the cancer problem in medically underserved populations. The 2002 Humanitarian award was presented to two men whose shared vision has led to tremendous progress in the fight to eliminate cancer: Dr. Lovell Jones and Dr. Armin Weinberg.

A doctor of zoology by training, Lovell Jones is a professor in the departments of Gynecologic Oncology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, as well as the director of its Endocrine Research Laboratory. There, he has also been named the first director of the Congressionally Mandated Center for Research on Minority Health.

Dr. Jones has spent years investigating the relationships among hormones, diet and endocrine-responsive tumors. His work with estrogen has yielded major findings on gynecologic cancers, redefining how we characterize today the category of "weak estrogens." In addition, Dr. Jones is actively involved in programs to improve the health of minorities and the medically underserved.

The second recipient is Dr. Armin Weinberg, director of the Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine since its inception in 1987. Before accepting that position, he served as director of the Education Division of the DeBakey Heart Center in Houston, Texas.

His extensive research career includes serving as principal or co-principal investigator on more than 20 federally or state-funded projects and publishing more than 20 scientific journal articles related to a subject of personal interest to him: continuing medical education. And through a variety of committee memberships and consulting roles, he helps ensure that quality cancer-related continued medical education is available to physicians.

Dr. Weinberg also has a special interest in the health of minorities and the medically underserved. Combining his interests in cancer education and cultural health issues, he has been instrumental in the promotion of cross-cultural learning for professionals in the cancer field, both nationally and internationally.

In 1995, Dr. Jones and Dr. Weinberg combined their interests and talents to co-found the Intercultural Cancer Council (ICC), an organization dedicated to promoting policies, programs and research to eliminate the unequal burden of cancer among racial and ethnic minorities and the medically underserved in America. Together, they and the ICC work to ensure that all people have access to care, and to engage representatives of all cultural groups – including cancer survivors – in outreach and educational activities to diverse communities.

The Volunteer Leadership Award was first awarded in the mid-1970s to recognize one or more volunteers for exceptional leadership in the cancer arena and within the American Cancer Society. Recipients are national level medical or lay volunteers who have set an extraordinary example for service. This year's recipients are Irwin Belk and Raymond Weisberg, MD. Irwin "Ike" Belk is the president of The Belk Group, Inc. and the retired officer and director of the Belk Group of Stores. Mr. Belk is known throughout his home state of North Carolina and nationwide for his business acumen and unique leadership style.

Outside the boardroom, his service also extends to his country and his state. He is a former North Carolina state senator and representative and was chosen as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention on four separate occasions.

Mr. Belk continually supports educational and charity organizations by providing Belk dorms, Belk scholarships and a wide range of educational programs. A past president of the Society's North Carolina Division, Mr. Belk also served most recently as president of the American Cancer Society Foundation.

Dr. Raymond Weisberg has given a lifetime of medical service in posts ranging from rehab center staff physician to clinic director to private practitioner and even the contract physician for the U.S. Penitentiary at Alcatraz in the 1960s. His academic contributions have enriched the University of California at San Francisco, where he served for several decades as clinical professor of medicine. He is an active member of the medical community – giving his time to various committees, associations and boards to ensure the continuing education of his fellow physicians and taking an active responsibility for the state of medical practice in his home state of California.

Dr. Weisberg also helped lead the early cancer advocacy movement. In the 1970s, he participated in an informal group of volunteers who called themselves the "Garden Club" and who worked to advocate with legislators on issues of interest related to cancer. Dr. Weisberg also has made numerous contributions to tobacco control in his community, in California, and nationwide

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy and service.

For more information, or to contact American Cancer Society, see their website at: www.cancer.org