It’s with great sadness that we announce the passing of Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, a Distinguished University Professor at The Ohio State University, a former director of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC) and a longtime senior adviser to the OSUCCC – James, who died following a recent fall at her home.With Dr. Bloomfield’s passing, the OSUCCC – James, and indeed the world, has lost a strong ally in the global war on cancer—an internationally renowned medical scientist whose more than 50 years of groundbreaking research in hematologic malignancies, particularly acute myeloid leukemia (AML), revolutionized science-based, personalized treatment for patients with these diseases. Her work has had tremendous and worldwide impact, resulting in the incorporation of genetics in the diagnosis of acute leukemias for the first time in the 2001 World Health Organization (WHO) classification, and into patient management in hematologic malignancies, including selecting therapy in the most widely adopted clinical practice guidelines in oncology: those of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
Dr. Bloomfield came to Ohio State in 1997 to serve initially as director of the OSUCCC and deputy director of The James before assuming her most recent advisory role in 2003. She will be especially remembered for her pioneering research that helped transform adult AML from a disease that killed virtually everyone to one that is often cured. She and her colleagues at the OSUCCC – James made several discoveries that contributed to this turnaround in AML prognosis.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Bloomfield was the first to suggest and demonstrate that adults with acute leukemia, including the elderly, could be cured with chemotherapy, and to demonstrate that biomarkers, including chromosomal abnormalities, can be used to predict outcome and to select treatment in adults with acute leukemia and lymphoma, a forerunner to personalized or precision medicine. Her chromosome studies had an enormous impact not only on the identification of genes involved in the development of these disorders, but also in the application of this information for effective therapy for individual patients.
Dr. Bloomfield first identified several now-classic chromosome changes in leukemia and lymphoma, such as the Philadelphia chromosome in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and the rearrangement of 16q22 in AML. She was considered by most to be the world’s authority on how chromosome changes influence treatment and outcome in adult acute leukemia.
For years, the WHO has incorporated chromosomal abnormalities in its classification of AML based on the work of Dr. Bloomfield. She chaired the clinical advisory committee for the revised WHO classification of AML and other hematologic malignancies. The committee started its work in 1996 and over the years has published several revisions regarding AML subtypes based on genetic and chromosomal changes. These revisions have helped physicians better select therapy for patients in accord with their personal cytogenetics, molecular genetics and projected prognosis.
The quality and importance of Dr. Bloomfield’s work are reflected in her decades of continuous NIH funding as principal investigator, her authorship of multiple invited review articles and chapters in leading textbooks and in the more than 600 peer-reviewed original research articles she authored or co-authored in major scientific journals. She frequently was invited to lecture at national and international meetings.
Dr. Bloomfield also made extensive contributions to many professional organizations. She served on the board of directors of both the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and she chaired the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Division of Cancer Treatment Board of Scientific Counselors. She was one of three chairs of the NCI Progress Review Group responsible for defining the national research agenda for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
Dr. Bloomfield was elected as a member of the USA Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (now the National Academy of Medicine), as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and as a Fellow of the AACR Academy, each for her ground-breaking and clinically impactful work in hematologic malignancies. In addition, she won multiple national and international awards, including the Henry M. Stratton Medal from the American Society of Hematology and the David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award from the ASCO. Most recently she received the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) Merit Award for contributions to international integration of leukemia research.
Dr. Bloomfield was inspired by her parents Zelda Derber (feminist and lawyer) and Milton Derber (world-class labor economist) to pursue excellence relentlessly, and she channeled this passion into academic medicine. She earned her medical degree from the University of Chicago in 1968 and then trained in internal medicine and medical oncology at the University of Minnesota before joining the faculty and quickly becoming a full professor. In 1989 she became professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and chief of the Division of Oncology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In her seven years at Roswell Park, Dr. Bloomfield transformed the department with more than 30 new recruits and initiated bone marrow transplantation for leukemia and lymphoma.
In 1997, Dr. Bloomfield joined her husband, Albert de la Chapelle, MD, PhD, an internationally recognized distinguished geneticist, in coming to Ohio State, where she directed the OSUCCC while Professor de la Chapelle led the inaugural CCC human cancer genetics program.
In 2003, seeking to concentrate on her research, Dr. Bloomfield stepped down as CCC director and became senior adviser to the OSUCCC – James. Michael Caligiuri, MD, her mentee, colleague and dear friend, whom she recruited to Roswell Park in 1989 and who came to Ohio State with Drs. Bloomfield and de la Chapelle, replaced her as CCC director, a position he held until 2017. During her tenure at Ohio State, Dr. Bloomfield also held the William Greenville Pace III Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and initially served as director of the Division of Hematology-Oncology in the College of Medicine.
Dr. Bloomfield relentlessly advanced women in science and medicine through her active mentorship and leadership, by serving as a role model and through advocating university policy guidelines on equal employment and advancement for women faculty. She was the first woman to chair the NCI Division of Cancer Treatment Board of Scientific Counselors, one of the first female department of medicine chairs (Roswell Park Cancer Institute) and one of the first female NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center directors (Ohio State). She mentored more than 100 women who have served as professors at prestigious universities, or as scientists in leadership positions at the NCI or in industry.
The OSUCCC – James is fortunate to have benefitted from the scholarly expertise of Dr. Bloomfield for so many years, and we express our condolences to her husband Albert de la Chapelle, her brother Charles and her many colleagues, associates and friends. Her impact both here and around the world will be missed and remembered.