Olufunmilayo Olopade, MD, the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor, has been named the recipient of the 2021 William L. McGuire Award and Lecture, one of the highest honors in breast cancer research, by the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). Olopade is internationally renowned for her expertise in breast cancer, and her research has advanced early detection, treatment and prevention of breast cancer in women at high risk for the disease.
The William L. McGuire Memorial Lectureship was established in 1992 to commemorate the significant contributions to breast oncology by Dr. McGuire who, along with Charles A. Coltman, MD, founded SABCS in 1977. His research played a major role in introducing estrogen receptor assays on breast tumor tissue as a guide to treatment decisions for women with breast cancer. Breast cancer patients everywhere now receive these tests. Previous recipients of the honor are some of the field’s most influential figures, including Bernard Fisher, MD, Craig Jordan, PhD, DSc, Benita S. Katzenellenbogen, PhD, Dennis Slamon, MD, PhD, Norman Wolmark, MD, and Mary-Claire King, PhD, to name a few.