In honor of E. Claire Dees, MD
“More than 40,000 women in this country die each year from breast cancer,” said Dr. Claire Dees in a recent interview. “Clearly we need new drugs and new approaches.”
Dr. Dees has been a medical oncologist on the faculty at UNC for ten years, currently as an Associate Professor. During that time she has taken care of hundreds of patients with cancer, particularly women with breast cancer – and she does it very well. When nominating her for a recent award, a colleague said, “She is a compassionate physician and healer who takes the time to listen to patient and family concerns and helps them weigh treatment options and create a plan of care that is individualized to meet not only their medical needs but also understanding they still have a life outside of their disease.”
Patients being treated by Dr. Dees today at the N.C. Cancer Hospital know how much she cares about making a difference for them today, and they know that she is passionate about bringing new anti-cancer therapies to patients.
Dr. Dees is both a doctor and a researcher who focuses on patient-oriented clinical trials research. She works on drug development and early-stage clinical trials, that gather data on whether new treatments are safe and effective. Trained at Johns Hopkins and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, she now heads UNC’s Phase I trials group and is the medical director of UNC Lineberger’s Clinical Protocol Office and the new Clinical Trials Unit in the N.C. Cancer Hospital.
“One really important component of state-of-the-art cancer care is access to clinical trials of new drugs and new combinations. At UNC we currently have more than 120 clinical trials of anti-cancer treatments. Some of these are large trials that will be practice changing. Some are studies of brand new drugs being given to cancer patients for the first time. I am really proud of this beautiful new space and that it increases our ability to offer truly state of the art care to cancer patients.”