Barton Kamen
Dr. Barton Aron Kamen, 63, of West Windsor died Sept. 27, 2012. Born in Brooklyn, he grew up in Rockville Centre, NY.
Dr. Kamen’s formal academic career consisted of three years at Medical College of Wisconsin and 15 years at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology and Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, followed by eight years as director of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and associate director of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick. From 2007 to 2009 he served as chief medical officer of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and was at the time of his death a consultant to bio-pharmaceutical/cancer therapeutic companies, and as a consultant to the NIH in Washington, DC.
He received his MD and PhD from Case Western Reserve University and served his internship/residency and fellowship in pediatrics and pediatric hematology-oncology and pharmacology at Yale University.
He was the recipient of the Scholar Award from the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, The Damon Runyan Walter Winchell Fellowship, and the Burroughs Wellcome Clinical Pharmacology Award and was one of the few pediatric oncologists to receive an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship. He was also elected into the American Society of Clinical Investigation (Young Turk). He authored over 300 manuscripts, was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, and served on numerous editorial and advisory boards of other cancer journals. He served on the Research and Medical Affairs Committee of the American Cancer Society, as a commissioner of the New Jersey Commission for Cancer Research, and as a board member and treasurer of the National Coalition for Cancer Research. He was also a medical adviser for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, and a consulting medical officer for the National Cancer Institute’s Physical Sciences Oncology Centers Program and medical adviser for the Angiogenesis Foundation.
His major laboratory interests for more than three decades centered on folate biochemistry and anti-folate pharmacology. He was currently developing treatment to prevent both resistance and toxicity, especially neurotoxicity from therapy. He was also on the forefront of developing Metronomic Therapy for cancer, working with a nonprofit in Geneva.
He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Dr. Ruth Saletsky Kamen; his daughter, Libby; his mother, Evelyn Kamen of Boca Raton, Fla.; two brothers, Dean of Bedford, NH, and Mitchell of Coram, NY; and a sister, Terri Kamen Schulner of Wellington, Fla.
Services were held Oct. 3 at Congregation Beth Chaim, Princeton Junction, with arrangements by Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel, Ewing. Memorial contributions may be made to the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, Embrace Kids Foundation, or FIRST.
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