by Bailey White
Staff Writer
There’s a small glass bottle in Dr. Neal Abramson’s office that’s filled with small white pills and stuffed with cotton. It could easily be mistaken for an old aspirin container, except for an aging label marked “placebo.” Despite its nondescript appearance, the bottle represents a landmark in the field of oncology, and a study that would change the treatment of cancer patients forever.
In 1971, Abramson, the director of education and research at the Baptist Regional Cancer Institute since 1998, was at University (now Shands) Hospital in Jacksonville. He made contact with Dr. Bernard Fisher, who was involved in the treatment of breast cancer at a time when oncology wasn’t the burgeoning field that it is today, and when, once the cancer was removed, patients were given radiation and sent on their way.
“It used to be that we [hematologists] did not see patients until after the cancer had returned, at which point we would treat them with drugs,” said Abramson. The drugs were the same drugs Abramson and other hematologists were using to treat Hodgkin’s disease and leukemia.
“We asked ourselves if we should be waiting until the cancer came back to treat patients with drugs, or if we should start treating them earlier,” said Abramson. “We got a hold of some very courageous women who agreed to participate in the study and we treated them — after their initial consultations with surgeons — with either drugs or a placebo.”
Then, in 1974, then-First Lady Betty Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer. President Gerald Ford called upon the medical field to produce its newest findings on cancer, and Abramson and his team examined the results of their study to find that the percentage of the cancer returning was significantly lower in the women who had been treated with drugs than in those who had been given the placebo. It has now become standard to treat cancer patients with drugs before the cancer has a chance to return.
Studies such as that one helped oncology, the study of cancer, emerge as its own field in medicine. Abramson even helped create the Oncology Board’s state exam.
“I submitted a few questions,” Abramson said, “but it was all pretty standard.”
Abramson is humble, but people in Northeast Florida can consider themselves fortunate that he is leading the research department at the Baptist Cancer Institute, an institute he has watched grow in his almost 30 years there. It has grown so much that Abramson said the number of people participating in cancer research studies at the institute exceeds the number of people participating in studies at many medical school programs.
“We wanted it to be a community hospital cancer program,” said Abramson. “Why should someone have to fly all over the place to get the latest in research?”
Ultimately, it is prevention that the doctors are constantly working towards. Abramson spends two-thirds of his time researching and educating. He presents findings to physicians, nurses and the general public. He and the team of oncologists at the institute look at new ways to treat cancer — one new study is looking at the effects of vitamin E on prostate cancer.
Abramson spends a great deal of time educating the public on cancer and the prevention of it, including the institute’s annual symposium, which is scheduled for December.
“It will be here [at the Cancer Institute] for the first time this year. I think of it as a Christmas present for the community,” said Abramson. “There will be bone density screenings, skin cancer checks, blood cell counts, all for free.”
With research and education consuming so much of his time, Abramson’s practice has changed. He spends less time with patients than he did when he first started.
“I think of myself as more of a consultant now,” he said. “I usually see people, and give my opinion, whether it is their first or second, then refer them to an associate.”
In the future, Abramson plans to continue his work in the field of oncology. He publishes frequently — newsletters, columns, and in the newest issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a study with Richard Aster on the drug tamoxifen’s work at preventing breast cancer. And there’s good news from the study; it appears the drug has some success at preventing malignancy.
Abramson, a New York City native, has three children and five grandchildren, scattered around the country.
“My wife Ellen and I encouraged our children to attend school up north, to see another part of the world,” he said. “As a result, we have one in Colorado, one is Boston, and one in Missouri.”
One of Abramson’s sons, who lives in Boston, is a radiologist, and the two have had the chance to publish together.
Abramson is at home in Jacksonville, and enjoys the proximity to the ocean, the Everglades, and other outdoor attractions. He is a devoted mountain biker, and has led groups of 10 to 20 people on biking excursions in California, New Mexico, Peru and Ecuador. He and a group were also the first people allowed to bike on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon.
Abramson will continue to push towards prevention and a cure for cancer, and maybe one day, Jacksonville won’t need him at all.
“Prevention is the most important thing we could offer someone,” he said. “We really want to keep people out of this building.”