Dr. Douglass Tormey changed the lives of millions of breast cancer patients with his role in validating the benefits of tamoxifen as both a cancer treatment and preventive medication.
The antiestrogen drug is still a key tool for breast oncologists today, thanks to the collaboration of Tormey, an oncologist and translational researcher, and Dr. V. Craig Jordan, a scientist whose years of lab-based research laid the groundwork for their 1980s collaborations at UW.
“It was cutting-edge laboratory research coming from Craig Jordan that was being translated into true cutting-edge clinical testing by Doug Tormey … and it has changed the way breast cancer has been treated since that time,” said Dr. Paul Sondel, a pediatric cancer researcher who has worked at UW since 1980.
Tormey, a native of Madison, passed away in July. His 16-year career at UW included many other innovations in breast cancer patient care, such as optimizing combination chemotherapy treatments and researching the most beneficial sequencing of treatments.
Innovating research
Tormey came to UW from the National Cancer Institute in 1976, just a few short years after the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center became one of the first NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S. Tormey joined UW at the behest of Dr. Paul Carbone, himself a nationally-regarded breast cancer expert and the namesake of today’s UW Carbone Cancer Center.
Tormey was passionate about the importance of clinical research and bringing the latest treatment options to his patients. Compared to today, treatments at the time were extremely limited.
“For those cancers that weren’t being cured by surgery and radiation by themselves, there were few cancers that you could make a real impact on other than just slowing it down,” Sondel said.
Tormey’s focus was refining and optimizing delivery of combination treatments and complex chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer patients.
“He used both clinical and basic science data to derive specific medications with specific times of administration,” said Dr. Howard Bailey, former director of UW Carbone, who has worked at UW since 1988. “He also studied how to sequence hormonal therapies, such as tamoxifen with chemotherapy, specifically studying whether to administer them sequentially and what order or combination.”
Tormey’s national reputation of innovative breast cancer research led to his clinical trial work on tamoxifen with Jordan in the 1980s. Their collaborations at UW showed tamoxifen could be used to starve breast cancer cells that needed estrogen to grow and that it could also prevent new cancer growth. This form of breast cancer, called estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, is the most common subtype among patients. Jordan, who worked at UW from 1980 to 1993, died in June.
Tormey’s research impact expanded beyond breast cancer when he joined the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, a multidisciplinary cancer research network connecting clinical research efforts nationwide. He later succeeded Dr. Paul Carbone as chair of ECOG and remained in that role until his retirement.
“He was a real leader locally and nationally,” Sondel said of Tormey. “When he spoke, people listened, and people respected how driven he was to make a difference and how he assembled teams to make that happen.”
Passion for patient care
Dori Kalish joined UW in 1977 as a clinical data manager to ensure that strict protocols and monitoring were being followed during clinical trials. She spent 15 years working closely with Tormey and saw firsthand how dedicated he was to helping his patients defy the odds with new treatments.
“He just hated cancer, and with his patients, he said, ‘This is going to be difficult, this could be hell on Earth, and I’m with you, and I’m going to fight to do everything I can to make that thing shrink,’” Kalish said.
Because these patients were undergoing intensive treatments and required close monitoring, Tormey was never too far away from attending to their needs.
“There was one time he was on vacation and camping, and he gave me the number of the campsite,” Kalish said. “And I had to call him late at night (for a patient) … and he came out of this campsite in the wilderness, God-knows-where, and he was just right there, ready to take care of his patient.”
Jane Wegenke, former administrator at UW Carbone, said Tormey’s reputation of innovation and excellence helped define UW as a national leader in breast cancer research and care.
“He kept Wisconsin on top of new efforts required to maintain the Carbone Cancer Center on top nationally,” she said. “As he began new endeavors, other faculty were assigned to run the successful programs he established.”
Wegenke worked closely with Tormey after she was hired by UW in 1979 and called him one of the best bosses she could ask for. She said Tormey’s legacy also includes establishing a patient tissue and blood sample bank that researchers could access to advance their work.
“The sample bank was a template for shared services that became a required element for NCI-funded research and personalized medicine today,” she noted.
Kalish said Tormey was also a good friend whom she admired greatly. Despite his achievements and stature in the cancer research community, he was very humble and dedicated to saving more lives.
“Working beside him was just wonderful,” she said. “He was there fighting beside his patients, and they knew it.”