Roswell Park Honors Dr. Edwin A. Mirand with Lifetime Achievement Award

BUFFALO, NY — Paying tribute to a man who helped steer the Institute through crucial junctures, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Edwin A. Mirand, PhD, DSc, Vice President Emeritus for Educational Affairs and Senior Advisor to Roswell Park President and CEO Donald L. Trump, MD, FACP — one of the five Roswell Park presidents with whom Dr. Mirand has served.

“Dr. Mirand has been part of the fabric of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center for nearly 60 years,” said Dr. Trump. “He helped to build and to lead the Institute at key points in its history, playing a critical role in planning and decision-making that ultimately benefited people far outside our immediate reach. Dr. Mirand has made incalculable contributions worldwide, and his lifelong commitment to Roswell Park, its patients and its mission is exemplary.”

Associated with Roswell Park since 1946, Dr. Mirand was appointed director of its Springville Laboratories in 1951. He went on to head Roswell Park’s departments of Biology, Viral Oncology and Biological Resources and its West Seneca Laboratories while establishing and expanding the Institute’s education programs. As Vice President of Educational Affairs and Dean of the Roswell Park Graduate Division of the University at Buffalo, he developed what would become the world’s longest-running summer program in cancer research for gifted and talented high school and college students.

Dr. Mirand’s vast knowledge of oncology policy and his political and scientific acumen positioned him as a national and international leader, in roles including President of the Association for Gnotobiotics and the International Society of Gnotobiology, Secretary-Treasurer of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI), and Secretary-General of the International Union Against Cancer’s (UICC’s) 13th International Cancer Congress, held in Seattle, WA in 1982.

In the early 1970s, he developed the first public cancer education program, the CAN-DIAL information line, under contract to the National Cancer Institute, and played an instrumental role in getting the National Cancer Act of 1971 passed. As a researcher, Dr. Mirand has made noteworthy contributions to the fields of viral carcinogenesis, erythropoiesis and gnotobiology, and developed the Hauschka-Mirand ICR germ-free mouse strain, which has been used in studies by the U.S. space program.

A Buffalo native and resident, Dr. Mirand is a graduate of the University at Buffalo, where he earned an undergraduate degree in biology and chemistry and a master’s degree in biology; and of Syracuse University, from which he received a PhD in Medical Science in 1951.

Among the many awards and honors Dr. Mirand has received are the Billings Medal in Science from the American Medical Association, in 1963; the Merit Award from the UICC, in 1982; and the Special Recognition Award from the AACI, in 2004. He holds honorary doctorates from Niagara University and D’Youville College.

The mission of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. Roswell Park, founded in 1898, was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit Roswell Park’s website at http://www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email AskRoswell@Roswellpark.org.

-30-

Media Contact

Annie Deck-Miller, Senior Media Relations Manager
716-845-8593; annie.deck-miller@roswellpark.org