Robert L. Comis: In Memoriam

Robert L. (Bob) Comis, M.D., passed away suddenly on May 10, 2017.The oncology community remembers with great affection his many contributions to our field. Dr. Comis was a medical oncologist who made major advances in the treatment of lung cancer, from the time he was the director of clinical research in that field in the extramural program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) until his more recent involvement in facilitating the implementation of personalized medicine studies through international initiatives. As Group Co-Chair of ECOG-ACRIN and President of the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups, Bob was a tireless advocate for a system that used public resources to address important research questions not answerable by other means. Dr. Comis knew better than anyone how to make the complex ecosystem of NCIfunded cancer clinical trials work for both researchers and patients. He succeeded because of his ability to inspire others with his important ideas, his straightforward approach, and his willingness to take on difficult challenges. Bob attended Fordham University and received his M.D. from the State University of New York (SUNY) in Syracuse, New York. His commitment to clinical research in cancer preceded even his training as an oncologist, when he accepted an assignment to work at the NCI’s Chemotherapy Unit in Kompala, Uganda, under the direction of Paul Carbone. There he had firsthand experience in providing remarkably effective chemotherapy for Burkitt lymphoma, an epidemic malignancy in children discovered a few years earlier by Dennis Burkitt. From 1972 to 1974, he was a staff associate at the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program and the NCI-Veteran’s Administration Medical Oncology Branch. It was there that he saw the potential for marshalling the resources of the NCI’s investigational drug branch to change cancer treatment through combined-modality clinical trials. After a fellowship at what is now the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Dr. Comis embarked on a career of building centers of excellence in the research and treatment of cancer. In 1976, he left Boston for Syracuse to become the Chief of the Solid Tumor Oncology Service at SUNY Health Science Center. In 1984, Bob moved to Philadelphia to become the Chair of Medical Oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. He held numerous leadership roles at Fox Chase, including Cancer Center Medical Director, Director of Clinical Research, and Vice President of Medical Science. In these positions, he embraced the model of bringing the experimental therapies to cancer patients through the medium of well-designed clinical trials. This approach accelerated the development of numerous drugs and combination therapies that are the backbone of treatment regimens to this day and, as importantly, also established the system whereby advances in biology of cancer could impact therapy most effectively. Bob championed the cause of practice-changing, publicly funded cancer clinical research during nearly 4 decades of work in the cancer cooperative groups. From 1979 to 1984 he served as Chair of the Respiratory Disease Committee of Cancer and Leukemia Group B. After moving to Fox Chase, Bob assumed prominent roles in the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG). In addition to his contributions to the ECOG Lung Cancer Committee, he served on the Executive Committee and as Associate Group Chair for Laboratory Studies. In 1995, Bob was elected to succeed Doug Tormey as Group Chair of ECOG. In this role, he set out to expand therapeutic opportunities from academic centers out into the community, where most patients with cancer are treated. He fostered the involvement of community oncologists in the leadership of the Cooperative Group. For the first time in such studies, he involved individual patients and advocates in the design and conduct of cancer clinical trials. The resulting broad adoption of clinical trials and scientific endpoints led to the completion of several large-scale trials in common tumors, including lung, colon, and breast cancers. Bob’s tenure as ECOG Group Chair saw tremendous changes in the field of oncology, and under his leadership, ECOG made a great number of practice-defining contributions to multidisciplinary cancer care. In 2012, with the vision of moving to more biomarker-driven cancer clinical research, Bob partnered with Mitchell Schnall, M.D., Ph.D., of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) to create a clinical trials group known as ECOG-ACRIN. The new group, cochaired by Bob and Mitch, dramatically expanded the capabilities of publicly funded cancer clinical research, particularly in the challenging areas of early cancer detection and precision oncology. In recognition of the biomarker-driven science already implemented in cooperative group trials, the National Robert L. (Bob) Comis