06-11-2023 HOF - Flipbook - Page 31
Baltimore Sun Media | Sunday, June 11, 2023 31
W
henDr.KevinJ.Cullenwas
a senior in high school, his
mother gave him a graduation present: a stethoscope engraved with the
message, “To Kevin, Love
Mom.”
She wanted him to
become a doctor — something Cullen had also
wanted since he was little — but she knew she wouldn’t live to see it happen.
She died from lung cancer around the time of his graduation.
Not long after that, Cullen’s dad died from leukemia.
Losing both of his parents before he graduated from medical school
pushed Cullen to devote himself to studying and treating the disease that
killed them. He completed his oncology training at the National Cancer
Institute, then served as acting director for the Lombardi Comprehensive
Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center, before moving
to Maryland.
For nearly two decades, Cullen has served as director of the University
of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer
Center and the oncology program at the University of Maryland School
of Medicine.
Under his leadership, the cancer center achieved comprehensive status
— the highest designation a center can receive from the National Cancer
Institute — and nearly tripled its research funding. The number of patients
seen by the center has grown by more than 50%, with the center seeing
3,000 new patients in 2021, according to University of Maryland Medical
Center spokeswoman Tiffani Washington.
Age: 66
Hometown: Ridgewood, New Jersey
Current residence: Bethesda
Education: Dartmouth College; M.D. from Harvard
University Medical School; Beth Israel Hospital for
residency; fellowship at the National Cancer Institute
Career highlights: Faculty at Georgetown University;
acting director of the Lombardi Cancer Center; director
of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart
Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center
Civic and charitable activities: Appointed by
President Barack Obama to a five-year term on the
National Cancer Advisory Board; 20-plus year volunteer
for the American Cancer Society; served on the American
Cancer Society National Board of Directors, temporarily
serving as board chair
Family: Married to Elizabeth Brown; one son
The number of clinical trials
at the center has also doubled,
Washington says, and more
than half of the participants are
minorities. To accommodate the
center’s growth and allow for
future expansion, it is preparing
to build a nine-story patient care
center.
Cullen has been the “driving force” behind the center’s
growth during the past 20 years,
Dr. Mohan Suntha, president and
CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System, said in a
statement. But in an interview,
Cullen is quick to say the center’s
success has been a group effort.
“It’s really been a tremendous
reflection of how much support
we’ve received from the community, from the state, from the
talent of our doctors and nurses,”
says Cullen, one of the region’s top
head and neck cancer specialists.
“It’s been a wonderful, wonderful
privilege to help lead all of that.”
Cullen is now stepping away
from the helm to give someone else a turn. In January, he
announced that he’ll be transitioning from his leadership positions at the center later this year.
He’ll still be seeing patients;
he’s not retiring. He emphasized that to Larry Hogan when
the former Maryland governor
congratulated him a couple of
months ago.
“He wanted to make it clear he’s
not going away,” Hogan recalled
in an April interview with The
Baltimore Sun. “He’s just giving
up some of his responsibilities.”
Though Hogan would later
pledge $216 million to cancer
research and treatment — $100
million of which would go to the
Greenebaum Cancer Center —
the first time he met Cullen was
in a more personal context.
Five months after Hogan was
elected governor in 2015, he was
diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, an advanced and
aggressive form of cancer.
His first appointment at the
Greenebaum Cancer Center
was with Cullen and Dr. Aaron
Rapoport, another top cancer
doctor.
“I just could immediately tell
that he was not only a really
good guy, but really cared about
patients,” Hogan says. “I just
knew I was going to be in good
hands at their cancer center.”
Outside Cullen’s work as a
physician, he also chaired the
American Cancer Society’s board
of directors. As a member of the
board, Cullen was key to shaping the organization’s National
Cancer Control Blueprint, says
Gary Reedy, CEO of the American
Cancer Society from 2015 to 2021.
Reedy says Cullen led researchers in analyzing why the likelihood of someone dying of cancer
had dropped by about 30% since
1991 and setting a new goal for
cancer mortality to drop by an
additional 40% by 2035.
“I know that Kevin’s research
focuses mainly in head and neck
cancers, but any person dealing
with cancer would be fortunate
to have a clinician like Kevin,”
Reedy says. “You can tell this guy
gets up every morning to do whatever he can to improve the lives of
his patients.”
Cullen also played an important
role in helping to establish CURE
Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, says
Dr. Jay Perman, chancellor of the
University System of Maryland
and a member of the 2021 Hall of
Fame class.
Established in around 2015
with the goal of diversifying
the health care and broader
STEM field, the CURE Scholars
program accepts more than two
dozen sixth grade students each
year from West Baltimore public
schools and provides mentorship
and after-school enrichment to
them as they advance in school.
Last year, Cullen and Perman
attended the high school graduation of the first cohort of students
to join the program six years
earlier. They were off to college,
many of them with scholarships.
It was one of the most gratifying
moments of his career, Cullen
says.
“It was a moment that I’m very
proud of,” he says. “It helped
cement the future for those kids,
and it helped cement our commitment to this community.”
— Angela Roberts
