Distinguished Career Award Goes to CHOP Oncologist

Beverly J. Lange, MD, an exemplary physician and researcher at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for over 40 years, received the 2014 Distinguished Career Award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPHO). Given during ASPHO’s 27^th Annual Meeting in Chicago, the award recognizes Dr. Lange’s outstanding lifetime contributions to the care of children with cancer.

The ASPHO Distinguished Career Award honors a professional whose career “has had a major impact on the subspecialty through some combination of research, education, patient care, and advocacy.”

Dr. Lange served as a senior physician and director of clinical affairs in the Division of Oncology at CHOP, where she worked from 1976 until her retirement in 2013. She also held the Yetta Deitch Novotny Chair in Pediatric Oncology at the Hospital, and was a professor of Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She continues to volunteer with CHOP’s Division of Oncology.

Although Dr. Lange’s clinical work has explored many types of childhood cancer, she is most associated with groundbreaking investigations of pediatric leukemia. There is no question that Dr. Lange “is synonymous with evidence-based improvements in the treatment of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML),” ASPHO said. Much of her work has focused on conducting landmark clinical trials to discover optimum combination treatments for AML, including reducing and even preventing side effects of cancer treatments.

Since Dr. Lange began working on AML, survival rates have improved to their current level of over 55 percent. Her expertise has also produced advancements in treating high-risk forms of another childhood cancer, pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In addition, Dr. Lange has published extensively in top-tier scientific journals, has contributed her expertise to professional organizations such as ASPHO and the multicenter Children’s Oncology Group, and has mentored countless young investigators.

With the ASPHO award, Dr. Lange joins the ranks of other CHOP oncologists who have previously received the ASPHO Distinguished Career Award, including Giulio D’Angio, MD, in 1990, Audrey E. Evans, MD, in 1995, and Anna Meadows, MD, in 2004.

For more information about cancer research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, see the Cancer Center.