Richard L. Edelson, M.D

Richard L. Edelson, M.D., director of Yale Cancer Center, has been named the inaugural Aaron B. and Marguerite Lerner Professor of Dermatology. Edelson has made fundamental contributions to the study of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), a disease caused by malignant T lymphocytes that affects the skin. He identified and characterized this cancer and his research group played a central role in deciphering the basic biologic properties of CTCL cells, both in delineating the pathogenesis of the malignancy and in developing effective therapies for it. Along with his research team, Edelson devised and implemented the first FDA-approved selective immunotherapy for any cancer, a treatment now referred to as transimmunization. This treatment has been administered worldwide to patients with CTCL and has proven to be a safe and clinically effective cellular “vaccine” for CTCL patients. Since 2003 Edelson has been director of Yale Cancer Center. In January he announced he would step down once a successor is appointed.