Former Cancer Center director honored with professorship

Vincent T. DeVita Jr., M.D., has been named the Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine in recognition of his contributions to cancer research and treatment.

The chair was endowed in December with a gift of $2.5 million to strengthen the Yale Cancer Center’s ability to develop translational research and new treatments. Joseph R. Perella, a member of the cancer center’s advisory board, is chair of The Institutional Securities Group at Morgan Stanley. His wife, Amy Perella, is a survivor of Hodgkin’s disease.

Following DeVita’s tenure the chair will be renamed the Vincent T. DeVita Professor of Medicine and will support a physician at the cancer center with a strong clinical research background in the treatment of cancer.

DeVita, a former director of the National Cancer Institute, was director of the Yale Cancer Center from 1993 until last July. He now chairs the Yale Cancer Center Advisory Board and is a professor of medicine and epidemiology and public health. He serves on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals and is the author or co-author of more than 450 scientific articles.