December 22, 1997

IU Pediatric Cancer Specialist Named First Simmons Scholar

INDIANAPOLIS--Susan Kreissman, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, has been named the first Jonathon and Jennifer Simmons Scholar in Pediatrics. The endowment was established by the Riley Memorial Association and the Simmons family to support the translation of laboratory research to patient treatments.

A researcher and physician, Dr. Kreissman has focused her work on improving the outcome for children with solid tumors for which current therapy is ineffective. Her clinical research has resulted in the development of high dose chemotherapy regimens and the use of peripheral blood stem cells to reduce severe bone marrow side effects associated with high-dose chemotherapy. These treatment regimens are based on laboratory research of blood cell formation done in the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research at the Indiana University Cancer Research Institute and Riley Hospital for Children.

Dr. Kreissman¹s pioneering treatment for neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system and the second most common solid tumor in children, has been very successful. Her pilot study in children with advanced stage neuroblastoma, performed at Riley Hospital for Children, has become the basis for a national, multi-institutional trial through the Children¹s Cancer Group (CCG). She serves as the national study chair, and also will serve as chair of the next CCG study for advanced stage neuroblastoma.

Dr. Kreissman joined the IU School of Medicine faculty in 1991. She is a graduate of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and completed her residency and fellowship at The Children¹s Hospital in Boston, part of the Harvard Medical School.

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