Dr. Paul Calabresi died on October 25, 2003 in Providence, Rhode Island. Ironically, he succumbed to cancer, a disease which he had been studying and helping to conquer during his entire professional life.
Paul Calabresi was born in Milan, Italy on April 5, 1930. He was the son of Dr. Massimo Calabresi and Bianca Maria Finzi-Contini Calabresi. In Europe, his family was active in the anti-fascist resistance but in 1939 fled to the United States. They moved to New Haven where his father joined the faculty of Yale University School of Medicine as a cardiologist at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital. Paul’s mother was a scholar of European literature, earned a Ph.D. in French at Yale and was Professor of French and Italian at Connecticut College and for many years Professor and Chair of the Italian Department at Albertus Magnus College.
Paul attended the Hopkins School in New Haven and then received his bachelor’s degree and then his MD degree from Yale University. He served his internship on the IV (Harvard) Medical Service, Boston City Hospital. For the next four years he became a field investigator for the National Cancer Institute as a project associate in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin. He returned to Boston City Hospital for another year of residency and then joined Yale University as a research fellow. Paul rose through the ranks at Yale until 1967 when he was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology and coordinated cancer training for internal medicine at Yale. He spent a year at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland as Visiting Scientist and then returned to Yale as Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology.
He was recruited by the fledgling Brown University Medical School to be Professor of Medicine in 1968, based at Roger Williams Hospital where he became Brown’s first Chairman of Medicine in 1974. He served as Brown’s Chairman until 1993, but in 1991 while continuing his research and patient care, transferred his base of operations to Rhode Island Hospital.
Widely regarded as a “statesman of oncology,” Dr. Calabresi was at the forefront of oncology therapy and also worked with the American Board of Internal Medicine, helped to carve out oncology as an important subspecialty and was instrumental in developing training programs throughout the United States.
One of Paul’s many contributions was in understanding and further elucidating the pharmacology of cancer chemotherapeutic agents; how the body processes and metabolizes them. He was also an early supporter of combination chemotherapy as well as combined modality therapy, interdigitating surgery and radiation therapy with chemotherapy in a safe and effective fashion.
Paul was able to stay on the cutting edge of oncology throughout his entire career. He had an unparalleled overview of what was happening in the field but was also a devoted physician to his patients, many of whom he continued to care for until the time of his death. Other biographers have noted Paul’s unique talent as a leader of influential governing bodies throughout the United States.
In 1991, he was appointed as Chairman of the National Cancer Advisory Board by President George H.W. Bush and then appointed to the President’s Cancer Panel by President Bill Clinton. In 1998, President and Mrs. George Bush invited Paul to serve on the steering committee for the National Dialogue on Cancer and he was Chairman of its nominating committee. Senator Dianne Feinstein, in 1999, appointed Paul to the National Cancer Legislation Advisory Committee.
Paul’s accumulated wisdom was sought after by many societies and organizations. At the time of his death, Paul was a member of the Board of Overseers at the E. Bronson Ingram Cancer Center at Vanderbilt University and on the Board of Overseers at Tufts University School of Medicine. He was Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Yale University Cancer Center and in a similar capacity, worked with the University of Wisconsin Cancer Center and the Columbia University Cancer Center. He was also a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences as well as a Master of the American College of Physicians. He was a member of the National Board of Trustees for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and an honorary life member of the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society, having served as President of the Rhode Island Division from 1990–1992. He was president of the New England Cancer Society from 1994–1995 and served as president of the Rhode Island Cancer Council from 1999 until his death. He also chaired the Scientific Advisory Board of the T.J. Martel Foundation.
He received honorary degrees in the United States and abroad and was also awarded the Oscar B. Hunter Memorial Award in Therapeutics from the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the St. George Medal for distinguished volunteer service from the American Cancer Society. He was President of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists and was a member and leader of more than a dozen other professional societies. He served on nearly two dozen prominent committees and study sections at the NCI and was on the Editorial Boards of thirteen journals including the New England Journal of Medicine. Paul authored or edited more than 220 manuscripts and books on the pharmacology of anti-neoplastic agents and the management of cancer.
Dr. Bruce Chabner, a distinguished member of this society, met Paul at Yale in Dr. Joseph Bertino’s laboratory. Biochemical pharmacology served as a common bond for Paul and Bruce and friendship and collaborations soon developed. Proudly for both individuals; they co-authored the Goodman and Gilman “Pharmacologic Basis of Therapeutics” chapter on chemotherapy of neoplastic diseases. Paul was regarded by Bruce Chabner and many others as an ideal mentor.
Later in Paul’s life, and once again being ahead of the curve, Paul developed an interest in geriatric oncology and served as the founding president of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology in 2000. He promoted geriatric oncology and as a scholar whose mastery included medicine, epidemiology and understanding of the human condition, he studied and publicized the effects of cancer on the elderly.
Paul was a world traveler and avid sailor. Bruce Chabner in a 2003 obituary described Paul “…as the master of the Calabresi ship as it steered its way through Yale, Brown and Washington. Paul led the way for the continuous stream of talented Calabresi’s, a remarkable family that has become renowned in law and medicine.” Paul’s brother, Guido, was the youngest full professor at the Yale Law School and then became its Dean. Paul’s children have gone on to make significant contributions in the world of law and medicine. Steven is Professor of Law at Northwestern University, Janice is a prominent lawyer in Arlington, Virginia and Peter is an Associate Professor of Neurology at John’s Hopkins University.
After Paul’s death, the International Society of Geriatric Oncology instituted a Paul Calabresi Memorial Lecture. Brown University established the Paul Calabresi Lecture and Professorship and the National Cancer Institute established the Paul Calabresi Award (K-12), a multi- and trans-disciplinary institutional training award supporting research career development of clinicians and Ph.D. basic scientists.
Paul and his loving wife, Celia, spent 49 wonderful years together. Celia was always a partner in all of Paul’ many activities and whose love of travel and their family is unparalleled.
Paul Calabresi was a guide and counselor to many. All of us will miss him. In a memorial article, Gregory Curt characterized Paul well “…Paul was a voice of reason and leadership and he earned real respect and friendship in each distinguished circle.”