Paul Calabresi, MD came to Brown University from Yale University in 1968 and served as the Chair of Medicine at Brown from 1974-1993. Dr. Fred Schiffman, Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine and Member of our Internal Advisory Committee wrote about Dr. Calabresi’s career and life in 2006.

An internationally recognized oncologist and authority on pharmacology of anti-cancer agents, Dr. Calabresi was a pioneer in the field of cancer therapeutics and developed approaches that led to the cure of such diseases as Hodgkin's lymphoma. Widely regarded as a “statesman of oncology,” Dr. Calabresi was at the forefront of the field of oncology and worked with the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), to carve out oncology as a subspecialty, and was instrumental in developing training programs throughout the United States. Dr. Calabresi developed an interest in geriatric oncology and served as the founding president of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) in 2000. 

Dr. Calabresi was appointed as Chairman of the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) by President G.H.W. Bush in 1991 and was later appointed to the President’s Cancer Panel by President Clinton. He had many honors and leadership roles nationally. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine (now National Academy of Medicine), the National Academy of Sciences, a Master of the American College of Physicians, an honorary life member of the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society (ACS), and served as President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in 1969 while at Brown. After Dr. Calabresi’s death in 2003, the SIOG instituted a Paul Calabresi Memorial Lecture. Brown University established the Paul Calabresi Lecture and Professorship and the NCI 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. Dr. Calabresi was the Founding Director of Brown’s Cancer Center. This Cancer Center began receiving NCI funding in 1980 as a clinical center while located at Roger Williams Hospital, which continued until 1993. Efforts in the 1990’s and 2000’s focused on patient care, clinical trials, and building research programs.

The Cancer Center at Brown University is an outgrowth of the Joint Program in Cancer Biology established in 2018, and follows the recruitment of Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP as the Director of the Joint Program at Brown and Brown University Health and inaugural Associate Dean for Oncologic Sciences at The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University. The Cancer Center at Brown was named the Legorreta Cancer Center in 2021 following a $25M gift by philanthropists Pablo and Almudena Legorreta. The goal of the Cancer Center at Brown University is to build world-class cancer research programs that bring basic science discoveries about cancer, interdisciplinary clinical, translational, and population research to innovative therapeutic, disease intervention and cancer prevention clinical trials to patients in the State of Rhode Island.