Vincent T DeVita MD

Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases) and of Medicine (Medical Oncology)

Biographical Info

Dr. DeVita, the Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine at the Yale Cancer Center and Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, was the Director of the Yale Cancer Center from 1993 to 2003. He spent the early part of his career at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and in 1980, the President of the United States appointed him director of the NCI and the National Cancer Program, a position he held until 1988. From 1988 until be returned to Yale in 1993, he was Physician in Chief and Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a member of the Program of Molecular Pharmacology. Dr. DeVita has earned international recognition for his accomplishments as a pioneer in the field of Oncology. While at the NCI, he was instrumental in developing combination chemotherapy programs that ultimately led to an effective regimen of curative chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease and diffuse large cell lymphomas. Along with colleagues at the NCI, he developed the four-drug combination, known by the acronym MOPP, which increased the cure rate for patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease from nearly zero to over 70%. In addition, in collaboration with Dr. George Canellos, he developed the combination chemotherapy CMF, which still remains a useful therapy for breast cancer. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the College of William and Mary in 1957. He was awarded his M.D. degree with distinction from the George Washington University School of Medicine in 1961. Dr. DeVita currently serves on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals and is the author or co-author of more than 450 scientific articles. He is one of the three editors of "Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology," and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of The Cancer Journal and Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology.

Education & Training

M.D.

George Washington University (1961)

Resident

Yale-New Haven Hospital

Senior Resident

George Washington U, DC General Hospital, Medicine (1962 - 1963)

Fellow

National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, Medical Oncology/Hematology (1963 - 1965)

Resident Intern

Univeristy of Michigan Medical Center

Honors & Recognition

• Elected, European Academy of Sciences
  European Academy of Sciences (2002)
• Amy and Joseph Perella Chair to be named Vincent T. DeVita Professor of Medicine upon his retirement.
  Yale Cancer Center (2004)
• Distinguished Medical Science Award
  Friends of the National Library of Medicine, Washington DC (2009)
• Awarded Honoris Causa in Medicine Degree
  National University of Athens, Greece (2009)
• ASCO Statesman Award
  American Society of Clinical Oncology (2007)
• FREDDIE Award, a Public Service Award.
  International Health & Medical Media Awards (2007)